Rovman Powell of the Rajasthan Royals delivered an emphatic blow smashing a splendid six to outshine the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL 2024 Eliminator at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Exhibiting his finesse as a righthanded batter Powell lofted the ball gracefully over Ravichandran Ashwin head culminating the shot with an exuberant fist bump symbolizing jubilation and triumph.
The exciting turn of events occurred in the 19th over as the team aimed to score five runs from the last seven deliveries. Lockie Ferguson delivered a deceptive slower ball seized jubilantly by Powell leading his team to a tense fourwicket victory in their chase for 173 runs within 20 overs.
Earlier, Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and chose to field first. Despite a strong start by the Royal Challengers, no batter was able to play the necessary number of innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Trent Boult bowled really effectively, with combined scores of 8-0-35-3. To hurt RCB, Ashwin removed Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green in quick succession.
“I wanted to tell him to be positive” – Rovman Powell on batting with Shimron Hetmyer
Speaking to the host announcer after guiding the Royals to victory, the 30-year-old said that the circumstances was not difficult, but there was pressure. The Jamaican stated that he wanted Shimron Hetmyer would stay till the finale.
“It (situation) wasn’t that difficult. It was situation where you had to put bat to ball, thankfully I minimized the pressure. I wanted to tell him to be positive than look for singles and unfortunately he got out.”
Rovman Powell
Powell, who made four catches, emphasized the importance of converting half-chances against teams like RCB.
“When you have good player like Faf and Virat you want those half chances to come to you. You put the body on the line. We have been playing good cricket overall this season, last few games we messed up. Guys are looking forward to playing in Chennai.”
Rovman Powell
Sanju Samson and his team will play SunRisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 on Friday at M.A. Chidamabram Stadium, Chennai.
