New Delhi: Romario Shepherd entered into the Indian Premier League with a reputation of being a destructive back-end hitter. On Saturday, he showed ample evidence why he is so highly rated by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
His late-order knock of 53 not out off 14 balls, with the help of four boundaries and six sixes complemented the top-order half-centuries from Jacob Bethell (55, 33 balls, 8×4, 2×6), Virat Kohli (62, 33 ballsm 5×4, 5×6) and propelled RCB to a score of 213 for five.
Ayush Mhatre led CSK’s chase with a 48-ball 94 with five sixes and nine fours while veteran Ravindra Jadeja scored an unbeaten 77 off 45 balls, including eight boundaries and two sixes.
But CSK fell two runs short of their target as the hosts went to the top of the points table and put one foot in the play-offs.
Shepherd was later adjudged the player of the match and the West Indian said he was glad to have finally shown his worth in the tournament.
“Today I had my opportunity. I was waiting for a long time, finally got out to bat, wanted to give the team a good finish,” the 30-year-old said.
He displayed immense power of ball-hitting during his knock, which he attributed to his bat swing and credited batting mentor Dinesh Karthik’s for his inputs.
“My base and the way I swing. Timmy was telling me to just hold my shape and swing from there as the ball was holding. The first couple of games we were failing as a batting unit,” he said.
“DK took us and gave us specific work, it paid off today. I wasn’t thinking of a score, I was thinking ball by ball and try to hit each ball for four or six. When I walked in, Timmy told me to relax and try and I did exactly that.”
Asked if he is a bowler or a batter and his matra on the pitch, Shepherd said, “I try to keep it 50-50, today it did not come off with the ball, I continued to struggle with the ball. Today was a bad day with the ball but the team did well and got us over the line, Ngidi and Bhuvi pulled us out of the mud.”
Romario Shepherd scored 53 not out off 14 balls, with the help of four boundaries and six sixes, to help RCB beat CSK by two runs in an IPL 2025 game Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
