In the IPL 2024 Eliminator on Wednesday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Rajasthan Royals battled back and forth as they attempted to chase 173, but in the end, they prevailed against Royal Challengers Bengaluru by four wickets to snap their five-match losing run.
With the victory, RR have put an end to RCB’s incredible comeback run and six-game winning streak, which came after they were last in the points standings. As a result, they will now play Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 in Chennai. Kolkata Knight Riders will play the victor of the Qualifier 2 match at Chennai in the championship game on Sunday.
Following a brilliant bowling performance by Avesh Khan (3-44) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2-19) that held RCB to 172/8, Yashasvi Jaiswal top-scored with 45. Riyan Parag (36), Shimron Hetmyer (26) and Rovman Powell (16 not out) then helped RR finish the chase in 19 overs.
Chasing 173, Jaiswal made it through on five after Cameron Green botched a challenging opportunity at first slip. Jaiswal then hit three fours in four balls against Yash Dayal, and he and Tom Kohler-Cadmore then combined to strike three boundaries off Mohammed Siraj.
Glenn Maxwell shelled a routine catch in the deep and then hit two fours off Dayal to give Kohler-Cadmore a little reprieve. However, in the final Power-play over, Lockie Ferguson got the hitter when a slower yorker rattled his off-stump.
Together, Jaiswal and Sanju Samson knocked three boundaries off Swapnil Singh; nevertheless, Jaiswal lost the match when his attempt to scoop got a glove edge behind Green. Samson came out to bat against Karn Sharma in the following over, however he missed a wide ball and was easily stumped. More excitement for the RCB came when Dhruv Jurel was run out casually and Virat Kohli produced a stunning throw from deep after sprinting to his left from deep square leg.
17 runs came off the 16th over as Hetmyer calmed RR’s nerves with a six over wide long-on off Green. Then, Parag hit a beautiful inside-out six over cover and backed away to ramp a short ball over the third-man boundary for four more. Dayal was hit by two fours by Hetmyer after he drove and smashed him, changing the RR equation to 19 off 18 balls.
However, after missing a huge heave off Siraj and witnessing his middle stump being uprooted, Parag was dismissed for 36 off 26 balls. Hetmyer attempted a flick three balls later, but the leading edge was caught by cover who was sprinting back and clutching on for an incredible catch, giving RCB a dramatic turn to the story.
Powell toe-ended a square shot and edged in the third-man area to grab two successive fours off Ferguson with 13 runs needed off 12 balls. Powell gave RR a chance to go to the final with a soft loft down the ground to end the chase, leaving RCB devastated.
In the past, Trent Boult (1/16) applied pressure with a clean opening spell on a red soil pitch, and Ashwin followed up with a wonderful spell to make sure the RCB weren’t left off the hook. After giving up 30 runs in his opening two overs, Avesh recovered to give up just 14 runs in his next two overs and claimed three wickets as RR gave up just 47 runs in their final five overs.
Boult, who chose to bowl first, kept things close by finding early swing and denying both Kohli and du Plessis space to hit boundaries. After hitting a four off Sandeep Sharma to start the early comeback, du Plessis ended the second over with a six that hit the floor.
Prior to du Plessis catching and smashing Avesh for two fours, Kohli hooked him for six runs. Du Plessis erred to deep mid-wicket, and Powell lunged forward to complete an incredible low catch, rewarding Boult for his tenacity.
In the final power-play over, Kohli smacked and whipped Sandeep for two boundaries, but in an attempt to slog-sweep Yuzvendra Chahal past the short square boundary, he picked out deep mid-wicket with perfect precision.
Green hit Chahal for six and four, respectively, before Jurel dropped Rajat Patidar off Ashwin at long on for five. Both of them would hit Avesh for four runs apiece before Ashwin responded by getting rid of both of them in the thirteenth over. Green misplayed a carrom ball to a cover that was backtracking, while Maxwell fell for a golden duck by holeing out to long-on.
After hitting three quick boundaries to unshackle himself, Patidar miscued one to mid-off against Avesh. Dinesh Karthik did not show much heroism as he misplayed an excellent short ball from the pacer to cover, but he did survive a controversial LBW verdict on review off Avesh.
172 wasn’t enough for RCB to extend their incredible run, as Mahipal Lomror smashed four boundaries in his 17-ball 32 before slicing to deep point to become Avesh’s third scalp of the game. Karn then sliced to sweeper cover on the next ball off Sandeep.