Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals (RR) dished out one of the most inexplicable batting performances of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they were dismissed for just 59, suffering a massive 112-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) here on Sunday.
Chasing 172 for a win, RR suffered a stunning batting collapse to be bundled out in just 10.3 over for the third lowest total in IPL history with only Shimron Hetmyer (35 off 19 balls) and Joe Root (10 off 15 balls) scoring in double-digit figures.
It was RR's second lowest total as they just about managed to go past their earlier lowest of 58 against the same opponents in 2009 by one run.
The RR batters failed to put up a fight as they kept on playing shots when the situation demanded to stick on for a while on a slow and tricky wicket.
The RCB bowlers exploited the lack of application and game sense by RR as all of them returned with wickets. Wayne Parnell was the pick of the bowlers with 3/10 from his three overs. Michael Bracewell and Karn Sharma took two wickets each while Mohammed Siraj and Glenn Maxwell got one each.
With the win, RCB jumped to the fifth spot with 12 points from 12 matches to be in contention for the playoffs while RR slipped to sixth with 12 points from 13 matches.
RR lost five wickets for 25 runs in the Powerplay with Parnell taking two, including that of Jos Buttler (0) and captain Sanju Samson (4).
But it was Siraj, who had opened the floodgates by getting the wicket of in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal (0). The youngster failed to control his shot and offered a simple catch to Virat Kohli at mid-off in the second ball of the RR chase.
It was a rare instance as both RR openers got out for ducks as Buttler departed in the next over off a short and wide delivery off Parnell.
Two balls later, Sanju was out as he committed too early and the ball ballooned up high in the air for Anuj Rawat to take a well-judged catch.
Three wickets down for 11 runs after two overs, RR survived the next two overs before Devdutt Padikkal, who came in as 'Impact Player' in place of Yuzvendra Chahal, was dismissed for four off Bracewell as Royals' procession to the dressing room continued.
Root's first IPL outing with the bat also turned out to be a nightmare as he was trapped in front of the wicket, becoming Parnell's third victim.
Hetmyer was the only batter who fought and he hit three consecutive sixes off Karn Sharma in the eighth over but finally got dismissed in the 10th over off the bowling of Maxwell.
Adam Zampa and K M Asif decided not to stretch RR's misery by getting out in the space of three balls in the 11th over in one of the most one-sided matches of the IPL.
Earlier, captain Faf du Plessis and Maxwell struck half-centuries as RCB posted a challenging 171/ 5 after opting to bat.
Du Plessis (55 off 44 balls) and Maxwell (54 off 33 balls) continued their strong form on a slower pitch.
Rawat hit 29 not out off just 11 balls down the order to take the RCB total past the 170-run mark as they added 51 runs in the last five overs.
Australian left-arm spinner Zampa (4-0-25-2) and pacer Asif (4-0-42-2) were the most successful RR bowlers while Sandeep Sharma got one wicket.
