Sanju Samson’s observation, that in IPL, “winning and losing is done with very small margins” summed up Sunday’s story in Bangalore aptly. There was little difference in how the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals played, but in the end, Samson’s team lost by seven runs.

Rajasthan had made a commendable comeback in the match when they put a leash on the RCB batsmen in the last five overs of their innings. From a comfortable position of 156/4 after 15 overs, RCB failed to step on the gas and could add only 33 more in the last five overs to finish on 189/9.

The chase didn’t start happily for Rajasthan, as they lost their prolific opener, Jos Buttler, in the very first over itself. But they fought on, first with a 98-run partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal (47 off 37 balls) and Devdutt Padikkal (52 off 34 balls), and then a late charge from Dhruv Jurel (34 not out off 16 balls).

But with 20 required off the last over, and their best finisher, Shimron Hetmyer, already back in the hut, the task proved to be too tall for Rajasthan.

Harshal Patel bowled the last six balls well, conceding 12 runs, helping RCB register their third home win of the season.

Harshal (3/32) was the pick of the RCB bowlers, but David Willey (26/1) and Mohammed Siraj (1/39) also played their parts.

Recovery act

RCB, after being asked to bat, was stunned when Virat Kohli, who was once again captaining the side as Faf du Plessis was not fully fit, was out first ball of the match. Trent Boult trapped the former India captain in front of the stumps. It turned into a double blow when Shahbaz Ahmed, promoted up the order, too departed with only 12 runs on the board. New Zealander Boult was again the tormentor.

But the early jitters did not make RCB nervous at their home ground. Glenn Maxwell joined Du Plessis in the middle and the South Africa-Australia combination did not only steady their team’s innings, they did so at a furious pace.

The two shared a 127-run partnership. With six boundaries and four sixes, Maxwell put the pressure back on Rajasthan. Not that Du Plessis was far behind. His 62 off 39 balls had eight fours and two sixes.

While Kohli did not score any runs, he did take his 100th catch of IPL during the game.

Only Suresh Raina (109 catches) and Kieron Pollard (103 catches) have taken more catches than Kohli in the IPL.