The Sawai Mansingh Stadium wore a brighter shade of pink than usual as the home team, Rajasthan Royals decked up for a special cause
Rajasthan Royals players donned a special all-pink kit for their IPL 2024 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday
The jersey is a part of the franchise’s Pink Promise campaign aimed at women’s empowerment in rural India.
As part of the same initiative, Rajasthan Royals will also help power six houses with solar energy for every six hit during the match.
Special jerseys and solar lamps made by women in rural Rajasthan were handed to a host of women in Indian sports. Indian footballer Dalima Chhibber was one of them
Homegrown Olympian shooter Apurvi Chandela was also present
India cricket Meghana Singh was also part of the occasion
as was India allrounder Sneh Rana
Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bowl
Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis never allowed Rajasthan Royals to effect any of its famed PowerPlay dominance
The pair stitched a 125-run opening stand in 84 balls to dominate proceedings early on in Jaipur
Faf du Plessis had his struggles early on. Virat later revealed that the wicket was a bit two paced and needed caution from the RCB batters
Rajasthan’s first breakthrough would come in the 14th over, but not without the jitters of a dropped catch. Trent Boult dropped a sitter at long off to allow Faf more time in the middle
Jos Buttler ensured the side didn’t pay for the drop, catching Faf off Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling on the very next ball
Glenn Maxwell’s poor run with the bat continued as he was dismissed by Nandre Burger for just one solitary run
Saurav Chauhan was slotted into the RCB starting eleven and promoted to number four but he walked back after contributing nine runs off six balls.
Kohli had the company of Cameron Green to finish the innings. Rajasthan managed to keep a check on the RCB scoring even though the batters managed to found the boundary every now and again
Kohli brought up his hundred off 67 balls, the slowest in the format in India and the joint slowest in the IPL
A 14-run final over helped RCB finish with 183/3 on the board
Chasing 184 to win, RR lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early for a duck, courtesy Reece Topley
A remarkable partnership (148 runs off 86 balls) between Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler saw Rajasthan on course to pulling off a comfortable win
RCB’s next breakthrough would come 14.2 overs later, when Siraj removed Sanju Samson with Yash Dayal taking a catch by the ropes to dismiss the RR skipper
Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel were dismissed cheaply but Buttler carried on
While his century looked unlikely towards the end, Buttler finished the game with a six in the very first ball of the final over to take the Royals home with five deliveries to spare while also registering a memorable IPL hundred