"Impact player or night watchman?" - Twitter erupts as RCB's Anuj Rawat scores 15 off 22 balls vs DC in IPL 2023

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Anuj Rawat failed to deliver with the bat against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the ongoing IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, April 15.

The left-hander came in as an impact player for Mahipal Lomror but only managed to score an unbeaten 15 off 22 balls, including a solitary boundary, at an underwhelming strike rate of 68.18.

At one stage, the team looked set to reach 200, but they finally settled for 174/6 in their allotted 20 overs.

It was Rawat’s second failure with the bat in IPL 2023, having scored just one run off five balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where RCB lost by 81 runs. The 23-year-old is likely to be dropped for the remainder of the ongoing IPL season.

For the uninitiated, Rawat was retained by RCB for Rs 3.4 crore despite scoring just 129 runs in eight games at a sub-par strike rate of 109.32 last season, including a lone fifty against Mumbai Indians (MI). Overall, the 23-year-old has so far scored 665 runs in 43 T20s at a strike rate of 113.86, including three fifties.

Fans trolled Anuj Rawat for his dismal batting performance against DC in the death overs. Many shared hilarious memes about his slow innings.

Former Indian cricketer Dodda Ganesh tweeted:

"Anuj Rawat sent as an impact player or night watchman?"

Here are some of the other best Twitter reactions:

Rawat, however, produced an exceptional direct hit to dismiss DC opener Prithvi Shaw.

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Anuj Rawat’s RCB sets 175-run target against DC

A clinical batting performance from Virat Kohli helped Royal Challengers Bangalore set up a 175-run target against Delhi Capitals on Saturday. Skipper Faf du Plessis, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, and Shahbaz Ahmed also chipped in with their 20s.

For DC, Kuldeep Yadav and Mitchell Marsh scalped two wickets apiece, while Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel bagged one each.

In response, DC are 43/4 after seven overs, with Manish Pandey and Abhishek Porel at the crease. The Capitals are chasing their first win of the season, having lost all four of their first games.

Follow the RCB vs DC live score updates here.