Rajat Patidar was Royal Challengers Bangalore’s hero during their Eliminator clash against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday (May 25).
The 28-year old scored a sensational century to bail RCB out of trouble and power them to a match-winning total. Asked to bat first in the must-win clash, RCB were in all sorts of trouble after the failure of their big guns.
Skipper Faf du Plessis could not even open his account while the likes of Virat Kohli (25) and Glenn Maxwell failed to get going too (9). The trio returned to the pavilion even before RCB could touch the 100-run mark. At that stage, a good total was looking out of reach for the Bengaluru-based outfit.
RCB were in a precarious situation and they needed someone to bail them out of trouble. And Patidar decided to take charge of the innings. The right-handed batsman played one of the finest knocks in the history of the competition and helped his team post a massive total of 207 for 4.
Despite the pressure situation, Patidar never let his strike-rate dip and brought up his fifty off just 28 balls. His next fifty came off merely 21 balls as he completed his century off 49 balls. In the process, he became the first uncapped player to score a century in the IPL playoffs.
Patidar remained unbeaten on 112. His knock came off just 54 balls and was studded with 12 fours and 7 sixes. He was well-supported by in-form Dinesh Karthik who scored 37 off 23 balls as RCB posted the big total.
The score turned out to be more than enough in the end as RCB beat their Lucknow counterparts by 14 runs. LSG skipper KL Rahul scored a fighting fifty but it was not enough for his team to cross the finishing line.
Rajat Patidar ignored by his teammates:
Following his sensational century against LSG, Rajat Patidar became an instant hero for his team. The RCB dugout was cheering wildly after Patidar reached his century and gave him a warm welcome after the end of the innings.
Even after the completion of the game, Patidar was at the centre of all the attention. However, the case was entirely different in the previous game when RCB were up against Gujarat Titans. A viral video has showed how Patidar was totally ignored by his teammates after the completion of the game.
Following the game, he raised his hand for high-fives but could not get any from his teammates before he started clapping.
Here is a clip of the incident:
— crictalk (@crictalk7) May 26, 2022