Images from Saturday's IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, in Abu Dhabi.
Captain Virat Kohli roared back to form with an unbeaten half-century, while opener Devdutt Padikkal continued his dream run with the bat to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League match, in Abu Dhabi, on Saturday.
Padikkal rallied te Royal Challengers after the early dismissal of opener Aaron Finch (8), stroking 63 from 45 balls to register his third half-century in four games.
Kohli started watchfully before he grew in confidence to hit 72 not out from 53 balls, as the Royal Challengers cruised to 158-2 in 19.1 overs, in reply to Rajasthan Royals' 154 for six, to win with five balls to spare.
This was after wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal snared three wickets in an impressive bowling show that helped RCB restrict Rajasthan Royals 154 for 6.
The victory, their third in four matches, took Royal Challengers to the top of the IPL standings.
Padikkal yet again produced an impressive innings before he was dismissed by Jofra Archer in the 16th over.
The young RCB opener allowed his captain to get in and settle down before Kohli produced some of his trademark shots later on to accelerate.
Having failed to score big in his earlier three innings (14, 1, 3), Kohli took time to settle down and scored mostly in ones and twos initially.
Padikkal continued his good form having scored 56, 1, 54 in his three earlier innings as he raced to his fifty off 34 balls.
Earlier, wily wrist spinner Chahal snared three wickets as Royal Challengers restricted Rajasthan Royals to 154 for 6.
With those three victims, he finished with figures of 3 for 24 and jumped to joint-No. 1 in the bowlers' chart along with Kings XI Punjab's Mohammed Shami on eight wickets.
Opting to bat, the Royals lost their top-order batsmen cheaply, inside the Powerplay overs, but recovered to some extent to post a decent total, thanks to Mahipal Lomror's knock of 47.
Royals skipper Steve Smith (5) fell cheaply for the second consecutive time, Isuru Udana taking his wicket in the third over.
Englishman Jos Buttler (22), who got the start but failed to come up with a big score yet again, soon joined him in the hut.
Sanju Samson (4), who had two sensational innings of 74 and 85 in the first two matches, was the third Royals batsman to be dismissed when Chahal took a low catch in his follow-through in the fifth over.
The third umpire took a long time to come to a decision, which ultimately went with the 'soft decision'.
At 31 for 3 the Royals were in deep trouble. The recovers a bit and reached 70 for 3 at halfway mark with Robin Uthappa (17) and Lomror stitching a 39-run stand for the fourth wicket.
However, Uthappa’s batting woes continued, as Chahal hag him caught at long-off.
Chahal ended Lomror's innings in the 17th over when the batsman sliced up a widish delivery to Devdutt Padikkal at long-off.
Rahul Tewatia (24 not out), looking for yet another explosive innings after the one against Kings XI Punjab, hit two sixes in the last over after enduring a beamer from Navdeep Saini on his chest to give the Royals a fighting total.
