Rajat Patidar hit brilliantly in the IPL 2022 Eliminator.© BCCI/IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore needed an innings of character, grit and adventure to impress in the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants on the sacred turf of the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and it came from the sword of Rajat Patidar. The RCB number 3 produced a flurry of frenzied attacking blows to make up for the failures of the big 3, Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell.
Patidar came in to punch a small hole with his team after losing the captaincy in the very first over. Virat Kohli on the other hand remained an unrecognizable shadow of his past attacking self, but many may have started to recognize this new version of Kohli; after what has been a dull season for the star.
Patidar decided to break the bonds in the fifth over as he charged into Krunal Pandya and hit the left arm spinner for three fours and a six to pick up his team’s 50.
Even when batters like Kohli and Maxwell struggled on the other side, Patidar managed to clear a line almost every time to help his team keep pace.
His next jailbreak was the 16th of RCB’s innings when he hit three sixes and two fours. The wily Ravi Bishnoi would have had his wicket, but Deepak Hooda dropped a relatively easy catch near the boundary on the third throw from the over, allowing Patidar to continue his frenzy.
He was dropped again in the 18th over, a tough catch in the third man region and Patidar made the most of it hitting the next pitch for a huge six to reach his century in just 49 balls.
The first century of this Patidar in T20 cricket.
promoted
He continued the charge in the company of Dinesh Karthik to take RCB to a huge tally, 207/4, something the team had failed to achieve in the same stage of the IPL over the past two seasons.
Patidar finished with an unbeaten 112 on just 54 deliveries.
Topics mentioned in this article
