Playing his first match of the 2018 Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s opener Parthiv Patel waged a lone battle against Chennai Super Kings, helping himself to a fighting half-century off 37 balls at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday. (CSK v RCB LIVE UPDATES)
As wickets tumbled around him, Patel batted with determination and enterprise to reach his 11th IPL fifty which included five fours and two sixes. (CSK v RCB LIVE SCORECARD)
Patel was the only Royal Challengers Bangalore top-order batsman to take on the CSK bowlers after the visitors lost their big guns, Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli and AB de Villeirs cheaply. In fact, RCB lost their top four batsman for just 74 runs.
Patel only got a chance because Quinton de Kock was not available for this match. An underrated cricketer, Patel has been a proven performer in the IPL. The 33-year-old Gujarat player used all his experience to soak in the early pressure exerted by the Chennai Super Kings bowlers.
Without being flamboyant, Patel picked his spot well to first take on the new ball bowlers, David Willey and Lungi Ngidi and then pick runs off Harbhajan Singh.
{{/usCountry}}Without being flamboyant, Patel picked his spot well to first take on the new ball bowlers, David Willey and Lungi Ngidi and then pick runs off Harbhajan Singh.
{{/usCountry}}It was Patel’s dogged batting that helped RCB reach 47 for one in the powerplay overs. Patel’s contribution being 31 off 23 balls.
After going past his 11th fifty, Patel looked to turn a flatter delivery to the leg side but ended up getting an inside edge which was taken by Ravindra Jadeja. His dismissal resulted in a collapse for Royal Challengers Bangalore.