“We were not expecting this” - Anuj Rawat on Rajasthan Royals being bowled out for 59

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) keeper-batter Anuj Rawat admitted that his team was somewhat surprised to see Rajasthan Royals (RR) capitulating to 59 all-out. He, however, added that anything can happen in a game of cricket.

RCB hammered RR by 112 runs in match number 60 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday, May 14. Set to chase 172, RR folded up in 10.3 overs, succumbing to the third-lowest total in IPL history.

In a post-match press conference, Rawat shared his views on Rajasthan Royals’ shocking batting collapse. He opined:

“To be honest, this is a game of cricket. You cannot expect anything. Rajasthan have been playing really well and we were not expecting this [batting collapse] thing to happen. But yes, anything can happen in cricket. We were just playing to our potential.

“The early wickets really helped us to get the momentum and that thing kept on throughout the innings.”

RR lost both their openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler, for ducks to Mohammed Siraj (1/10) and Wayne Parnell (3/10), respectively. Skipper Sanju Samson also fell to Parnell for 4.

Before the end of the powerplay, Rajasthan had lost half their side for 28. Shimron Hetmyer was the top-scorer in the innings, smashing 35 in 19 balls.

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“This is what I have practiced for before the season” - Anuj Rawat on crucial cameo

Earlier, half-centuries from in-form batters Faf du Plessis (55) and Glenn Maxwell (54) laid the platform for a challenging RCB total. However, RR hit back to reduce Bangalore to 137/5 in the 18th over.

It needed a breezy cameo from Rawat (29* off 11) to lift RCB past the 170-run mark.

Speaking about his knock, the 23-year-old commented:

“For me, this is what I have practiced for before the season and I was very confident that, if I stay till the end, I will definitely make some impact and that's what I did.”

The 112-run triumph has boosted RCB’s net run rate significantly, which could aid their cause if playoffs qualification comes down to that aspect. Rawat admitted:

"Before this game, our net run rate was on the negative side and, after the win, we are on the positive side. So, it was very good for us to gain two points and our net run rate is also very good [now]. We will definitely look at it one game at a time from here.”

RCB are fifth in the IPL 2023 points table, with 12 points from 12 matches and a net run rate of +0.166.