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Sanju Samson winning a toss during this IPL is as rare a sighting as stars on a moonlit sky.
So when the Rajasthan Royals captain won the toss ahead of IPL 2022 Qualifier 2 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, it was a sign that victory for the inaugural champions was written in the stars.
Samson rightly put RCB in to bat and did that decision pay dividends!
On a track that had some good bounce and seamers were getting assistance, and no sooner did Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis looked to give RCB a good start, Kohli was caught behind by Samson.
No 3 batter Rajat Patidar and du Plessis then put on a 50 run stand before Obed McCoy broke the partnership to remove the RCB captain.
Glenn Maxwell tried to accelerate the innings with a few lusty shots, but he wasn't able to make good of all the attempted big shots before being caught in the deep by McCoy.
Patidar found the boundaries and sixes and completed his fifty in the 15th over, but was soon dismissed for 58.
RCB struggled to mount a fightback and in the last four overs Rajasthan gave away just 25 runs in the last four overs taking 4 wickets.
McCoy and Prasidh Krishna kept it tight at the death, Krishna in particular being being on the money with his yorkers and picking the important wickets of Dinesh Karthik and Wanindu Hasaranga in the same over.
McCoy also mixed the pace of his deliveries while bowling a tight line and accurate lengths, and taking two at the backend to ensure RCB didn't cross the 160 run mark and give themselves a shot while batting.
Both bowlers finished with three wickets on an impressive evening.