RCB brought in several new faces against Rajasthan Royals but that did not change its fate as they lost their fourth match of IPL 2024.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru slipped to the eighth position in the points table when they lost to Rajasthan Royals by 6 wickets in Jaipur. Batting first, RCB had a good start thanks to their talismanic opening pair of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis. Kohli and Du Plessis stitched together a partnership of 125 runs in 14 overs for the first wicket.
But after Du Plessis was dismissed, the middle order couldn’t capitalise on the start. RCB scored 183/3 in 20 overs and Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 113 runs off 72 balls. The middle order came under the scanner as none of the batter could provide the team the much-needed flourish in the slog overs and RCB fell atleast 15-20 runs short.
Mahipal Lomror, who was in an excellent hitting form this season, was surprisingly dropped for this match. The left-hander has scored 50 runs in two matches at a strike rate of 238.09 in IPL 2024. In the only match that RCB has won this season (against Punjab Kings), Lomror played a key role in finishing the match by scoring a quickfire 8-ball-17.
Mahipal Lomror plays on this pitch in the domestic cricket n he wasn’t part of the playing 11. He has shown some form too. Indian coaches needs to get involve in the ipl so these basic mistakes doesn’t happen. This is just one example.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 6, 2024
The decision to drop Mahipal Lomror did not go down well with former India allrounder Irfan Pathan. He pressed for the involvement of Indian coaches in the league who know the Indian domestic players well.
“Mahipal Lomror plays on this pitch in the domestic cricket n he wasn’t part of the playing 11. He has shown some form too. Indian coaches needs to get involve in the ipl so these basic mistakes doesn’t happen. This is just one example,” Pathan tweeted on his X handle.
Mahipal Lomror plays his domestic cricket for Rajasthan and Sawai Mansingh Stadium at Jaipur is a home ground for Rajasthan. His experience at the ground could have been valuable if he had played. In both the matches that Lomror has batted in this season, he has made significant contributions.
Young 23-year-old left-hander Saurav Chauhan replaced Mahipal Lomror in the playing XI for this match. Chauhan was dismissed for 9 runs off 6 balls.
Also read: Former Pakistan pacer trolls Virat Kohli for scoring joint slowest ton in IPL history
Meanwhile, chasing 184 to win, Rajasthan Royals lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early but Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler put up a stunning partnership of 148 runs between them to take their team close to the finish line. Despite a few hiccups in the end, RR reached the target in 19.1 overs. Buttler remained unbeaten on 100 runs off 58 balls while skipper Samson played a fluent innings of 69 runs.
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