Very few Rajasthan Royals flags could be spotted amid the 85,573-strong turnout for the Eliminator clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday. But the Royals wouldn’t mind, as they held their nerves to overcome the Royal Challengers Bengaluru test by four wickets.
Their losing streak broken, the Royals will now get ready for Sunrisers Hyderabad in Friday’s Qualifier 2 in Chennai.
For RCB, easily the flavour of this IPL, the dream run is over as the disconsolate look on the faces of captain Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma, who too was at the ground, said it all.
A major part of the credit has to be given to the Royals bowlers for putting up a decent show to restrict RCB to 172/8 after opting to bowl first.
Trent Boult’s opening spell (1/6 in three overs) that kept RCB’s match-winning opening duo of Kohli (33) and Du Plessis (17) quiet in the Powerplay before Ravichandran Ashwin (2/19 with wickets of Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell)’s wily work, which choked RCB in the middle overs, were crucial to the Royals having to chase a not so big total on the slowish surface.
The Royals were off to a solid start in reply, till Yashasvi Jaiswal (45) and captain Sanju Samson threw their wickets away while Dhruv Jurel was run out, as RCB felt they were still in the game. But Riyan Parag (36) and Impact Player Shimron Hetmyer (26) — coming in for Yuzvendra Chahal — kept unleashing the required fours and sixes in their 45-run fifth-wicket partnership off just 4.1 overs.
Ahmedabad: Rajasthan Royals' Yashasvi Jaiswal plays a shot during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 T20 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bangaluru and Rajasthan Royals
Mohammed Siraj revived RCB’s hopes a little with the wickets of Parag and Hetmyer in the 18th over of the Royals’ run chase. But the equation was such that Rovman Powell (16 not out) and Ashwin, the two new batters out there then, hardly felt any kind of pressure and took the Royals home with an over to spare. The stands though started getting empty when Powell found two boundaries in a row in the penultimate over.
Earlier, senior off-spinner Ashwin made fine use of the slowness of the pitch, dismissing Green and Maxwell off back-to-back deliveries in the 13th over, while leg-spinner Chahal — although a touch expensive — bagged the vital scalp of Kohli.
Chahal bowled it slower on middle-and-leg stump as Kohli tried to hoick him, only to perish at deep mid-wicket.
For sure that was a big moment in the game, considering how well Kohli had been pacing his innings after criticisms over his strike rate.
If not for the reprieve to the in-form Rajat Patidar (34 off 22 balls) when he had scored just five, the Royals could well have restricted RCB to an even lesser total. Ashwin was spot on with his length, inducing a mishit off Patidar, who batted at No.4 on Wednesday. But Jurel made a hash of a sitter at deep mid-on.
Patidar did cash in on that let-off to again emerge as RCB’s top scorer, till the short delivery outside off-stump worked for Avesh Khan. The short ball also bagged Avesh the wicket of finisher Dinesh Karthik, who could have played his final competitive match, in the 19th over.
Karthik, however, did have a stroke of luck when the TV umpire overturned the decision of the on-field umpire, who gave him out lbw off the first ball he faced. Following that contentious call, Karthik was involved in a 32-run stand with Mahipal Lomror (32).