Samson wrestles down RCB

Jaipur, Apr 30: Royal Challengers Bangalore came close to breaking their away-match jinx of this season at the Sawai Man Singh stadium. But Rajasthan Royals, riding on an excellent fifty by Sanju Samson, won the battle of nerves in the last over to clinch the thrilling encounter by four wickets on Monday.

Needing seven runs from the last over while chasing a competitive 172 to win, Royals were in command with Brad Hodge (32) and Stuart Binny (6 n.o.) at the crease.

But R Vinay Kumar bowled the dangerous Hodge and captain Virat Kohli showed presence of mind in attacking the bowler’s end with an excellent throw from the deep to get rid of Owais Shah in successive deliveries. That held a ray of hope for RCB to sneak in a victory. The equation came down to four runs off three balls. But Binny slammed a boundary to deep mid-wicket to reach the target with a ball to spare.

On the other hand, Royals maintained their perfect record at home in what turned out to be the second highest run chase here.

The 18-year-old Samson, in only the second game of his debut IPL season and promoted up the order, made the difference with a blistering half-century (63 off 41 balls). Shane Watson played the role of anchor with a useful 41 while Hodge stepped up at the death, hitting two sixes during his 18-ball 32. In the end, it turned out to be a well-executed chase by the home team. Royals had preferred to chase as skipper Rahul Dravid again put the opposition into bat. Samson, who had a good domestic season for Kerala, had shown glimpses of his talent against Kings XI Punjab and lived up to the faith shown by his captain on the day. He played freely and excelled in stroke-making.

Solid Watson

Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed early and Dravid misjudged a slower one to have his stumps knocked off by Moises Henriques. In the company of Watson, Samson cut loose. His two effortless sixes, over cover and extra-cover off Murali Kartik, were a treat. He had the crowd standing on its feet when he sent a RP Singh full toss to cover for his half-century. Watson and Samson added 48 runs before Ravi Rampaul cut short Samson’s innings. Hodge immediately launched himself into attack, and though Watson departed towards the end, the job had done by then.

Earlier, RCB had rustled up a good total. Chris Gayle gave them a blistering start and bombarded the boundaries consistently. Off-spinner Ajit Chandila, opening the bowling for Royals, was creamed for 13 runs and S Sreesanth, who was making a return after missing out on three matches, conceded 17. RCB had raced to 44 in four overs before Gayle edged a Watson delivery behind the wicket. His departure stifled the scoring and with Siddharth Trivedi crashing the stumps of Abhinav Mukund, RCB were staring at a crisis.

The reliable middle-order pair of Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers milked 30 runs for the third wicket to keep RCB?innings steady. De Villiers was threatening to open up with his characteristic hits to the fence. When on 16, he whacked Binny to deep point but Sreesanth misjudged the catch as he over-ran the ball.

Sreesanth, however, atoned for it when de Villiers chased his full and wide delivery in the next over and James Faulkner took the catch at deep. Watson then did the damage, taking out Kohli and Royals looked in control. But Rajasthan let it slip when Vinay hammered birthday boy Faulkner for three sixes in the final over to lift his side to a formidable total. But in good batting conditions, Royals stood up to the challenge and left RCB with a lot to ponder.