IPL 2022, Q2, RR vs RCB, Top Performances: Buttler 106*, McCoy & Krishna 3-fers take RR to IPL final

IPL 2022, Qualifier 2, RR vs RCB, Top Performances: Jos Buttler's 106*, Obed McCoy & Krishna 3-fers and Rajat Patidar's 52 are top three performances. RR beat RCB and move to IPL 2022 final.

Jos Buttler brings up his 4th century of TATA IPL 2022 (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals (RR) 161/3 (Buttler 106*, Hazlewood 2-23) beat RCB 157/8 (Patidar 58, Prasidh 3-22, McCoy 3-23) by seven wickets

Player of the Match: Jos Buttler (106* runs in 60 balls)

After an exciting eliminator, inaugural champions of the tournament, Rajasthan Royals (RR) clashed heads with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) who were the runners-up during IPL 2009 and 2016 editions, at the biggest cricket stadium of the world, Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to book a place in the final against Gujarat Titans (GT).

In a total of 26 meetings between the two sides before Friday’s match, RCB had a 13-11 edge over RR. Since 2018, the Royals came out on top four times while Bangalore have won five.

Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to field first on a track which was expected to be good for batting with an average winning score of 175. Both sides retained their same playing eleven from the previous game.

Read More: IPL 2022, Eliminator, RCB vs LSG, Top Performances: Patidar 112*, Harshal 1-25 take RCB to Q2

Prasidh Krishna's 3-22 helps Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat RCB (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Rajasthan to meet Gujarat in the finals; RCB lost their eighth playoffs game

Put in to bat first, Bangalore lost Virat Kohli early for just 7 before the centurion from the eliminator, Rajat Patidar and captain Faf du Plessis steadied the ship to take RCB to 46/1 after the powerplay. However, Du Plessis wasn’t timing the ball well as he was dismissed on 25 off 27 balls before a 13-ball 24 run show from Glenn Maxwell.

Patidar celebrated his fifty with a six to become just the second uncapped player to score fifties in IPL playoffs after Venkatesh Iyer. Royals made a good comeback, spending just 34 runs besides taking five wickets in the last five overs. Rajasthan eventually restricted Bangalore to 157/8 in their 20 overs.

Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal propelled Royals to a flier with 67 runs in the powerplay for the cost of Jaiswal, who made 21 in 13 balls. Sanju Samson partnered Buttler for 52 runs in just 39 balls. Buttler was clubbing the balls to all corners of the park to notch up an unbeaten 106 runs in just 60 balls to take RR to their second final.

Let’s scan the top performances from the game between RR and RCB, IPL 2022.

Obed McCoy's 3-23 helps Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat RCB (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

McCoy & Prasidh destroyed Bangalore with combined figures of 6/46

Just like batting in partnerships, bowling in a partnership is important too; Prasidh Krishna and Obed McCoy did exactly the same to destroy Bangalore. Krishna, in his very first over, got the better of Virat Kohli for the second time in IPL. Then, Du Plessis and Patidar stitched up a partnership. McCoy, in his second over sent back the former for 25; it was the seventh time Faf was undone by the left-arm seamer.

McCoy, in his third over got rid of Mahipal Lomror on 8 with a slower delivery that bounced more than Lomror expected. Krishna, who had 2-23 in their last affair against RCB, dismissed the big fish, Dinesh Karthik on 6 for the maiden time in IPL. On the very next ball, he uprooted the furniture of Wanindu Hasaranga for a golden duck with a fiery yorker. Krishna finished with 3-22 in his four overs.

West Indies player Obed McCoy, whom Royals bagged for just INR 75 lakhs, disturbed the stumps of Harshal Patel in the very first ball of the last over, to finish with 3-23 in his four overs.

Read More: IPL 2022, Q1, GT vs RR, Top Performances: Pandya-Miller 106* stand takes GT into Final

Buttler has 824 runs from 16 games including 4 centuries in IPL 2022 (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Jos Buttler blew away Bangalore

Chasing such a low total in the modern era, Rajasthan needed just one of their batters playing an eye-catching knock and Orange Cap holder, Jos Buttler who had 718 runs in just 15 matches so far, went berserk from the very first over.

He clubbed away Mohammed Siraj for 14 runs in the very first over with two back-to-back boundaries and one six; he now has 30 runs in 14 balls against the Indian pacer. He then hit Shahbaz Ahmed for a six and four before celebrating his fifth fifty of the season off just 23 balls.

He kept the onslaught against left armer Ahmed on, with two more boundaries; with that in IPL 2022, he has 28 runs in 11 balls against Shahbaz at a strike rate of 215. He then cracked two more sixes off new Purple Cap holder, Wanindu Hasaranga, over long-on and long-off fence, respectively.

With a gentle single in the deep cover region, he notched up his fourth IPL 2022 century in just 59 balls before taking Royals to their second finals with a huge six. He now has five centuries in IPL, only behind Chris Gayle (6). With 824 runs, he is now the third-highest run-getter in one single IPL season. Buttler finished with 106* in 60 balls that saw 10 boundaries and 6 sixes.

Read More: IPL 2022, CSK vs RR, Top Performances: Ashwin's 40*, 1-28 tops Moeen's 93; RR to face GT in Q1

Rajat Patidar's 52 goes in vain as RR beat RCB (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Rajat Patidar continued his purple patch from the last game

Rajat Patidar, after going unsold in the IPL auction, carried Bangalore single-handedly in the eliminator with a fantastic century. Coming in just the third over of the innings, he began from where he finished with a boundary off his very first ball. He continued to deposit boundaries with ease to take RCB to 46/1 in the powerplay.

He did slow up a bit in the middle overs before breaking jail with a six off Yuzvendra Chahal over long-on. Just when the 70-run stand between him and Du Plessis got undone, Patidar started to accelerate to notch up his second fifty of the season in just 40 balls with a six over long-off against Chahal; he scored 18 in nine balls off the Indian leg spinner in the evening.

With 170 runs, he is now the second highest run getter of playoffs in an IPL season. He is also just the third batter to score 50+ scores in both Eliminator and Qualifier of an IPL season. His 42-ball 58 run knock was arranged with four boundaries and three sixes.

Read More: IPL 2022, RCB vs GT, Top Performances: Virat 73, Maxwell (40*) take RCB to 4 but not to Playoffs yet

What’s to Come

Rajasthan Royals (RR) will now meet new franchise Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2022 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 29.

Top Twitter Reactions from RR vs RCB, Qualifier 2, IPL 2022 as RR beat RCB:

Twitter applauds as Jos Buttler brings up his 4th century of TATA IPL 2022.

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