BENGALURU, India,CMC – Rookie West Indies speedster Oshane Thomas continued his impressive build-up to next month’s ICC World Cup in England with a brace of wickets for Rajasthan Royals but Shimron Hetmyer remained without action for Royal Challengers Bangalore as persistent heavy rain forced a no-result in their contest here yesterday.
In a match reduced to five overs per side at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB tallied 62 for seven, with captain Virat Kohli top-scoring with a seven-ball 25 which included a four and three sixes.
He put on 35 off 10 balls for the first wicket with South African AB de Villiers who made 10 from four deliveries.
Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal (3-12) claimed a hat-trick when he knocked over Kohli, de Villiers and Marcus Stoinis (0) in successive deliveries at the end of the second over.
Asked to bowl the last over, the 22-year-old Thomas conceded just six runs while accounting for Heinrich Klaasen (6) caught at deep cover and Pawan Negi (4), caught at the wicket feathering a slog.
Thomas has taken five wickets in his three outings so far after being overlooked for the first half of the season.
Hetmyer, however, a key member of the Windies squad for the World Cup, was once again ignored and has now not played for RCB in nearly a month. His first four innings of the season yielded 15 runs and he was promptly dropped.
In reply, Sanju Samson struck 28 from 13 balls to propel Royals to 41 for one in the fourth over before the rains arrived to end the contest.
