England’s Phil Salt hit a 33-ball 65 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in the Indian Premier League.
Chasing 174, Salt struck five fours and six sixes before pulling Kumar Kartikeya’s delivery to Yashasvi Jaiswal at deep mid-wicket.
His attack left his side in the driving seat at 92-1 in the ninth over, and his opening partner Virat Kohli guided RCB home in the 18th over while reaching an unbeaten 62 from 45.
Jaiswal was the star of the Royals innings, hitting 75 from 47 at the top of the order.
The 23-year-old put on 49 and 56-run partnerships with Sanju Samson (15 from 19) and Riyan Parag (30 from 22) before being trapped lbw by Josh Hazlewood.
The finisher Shimron Hetmyer failed to fire, hitting nine from eight before being caught off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s penultimate ball of the innings, while Dhruv Jurel finished unbeaten on 35 from 22 as Royals closed on 173-4.
That total was not enough to trouble RCB and Kohli added 83 with Devdutt Padikkal (40 from 28) to secure his side’s fourth win in the competition.
The win moves RCB two places up to third, while the Royals remain in seventh.
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