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Rajasthan Royals 174 for 6 (Jaiswal 45, Parag 36, Siraj 2-33) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 172 for 8 (Patidar 34, Kohli 33, Lomror 32, Avesh 3-44, Ashwin 2-19) by four wickets
Rajasthan Royals ended their four-match winless run in the Indian Premier League and bounced back just at the right moment to seal their place in the Qualifier 2 following a 4-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Eliminator on Wednesday.
The Narendra Modi Stadium witnessed a topsy-turvy game, with momentum swinging like a pendulum, keeping the fans at the edge of their seats.
For a moment it felt like, the chants of ee sala cup namde would continue to roar in Chennai. But Powell's calmness made RCB nurse their wounds once again, as their quest for maiden IPL title ended on the wrong note.
The Royals had a fair share of nervy moments while chasing 173, after the dismissal of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.
RR began the chase with the opening pair of Jaiswal and Tom Kohler-Cadmore taking a mixed approach in the powerplay. They were watchful of the threatening deliveries but punished the ones that landed in the hitting zone.
Their mixed-bag approach helped them put 46 runs on the board before Tom (20) lost his wicket in the final over of the powerplay.
Jaiswal and skipper Sanju Samson forged a short yet effective 35-run partnership to keep the Royals on track.
Cameron Green broke the stand with Jaiswal gloving it to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps. This marked the beginning of a collapse with Samson walking back to the dugout five balls later.
Samson danced around the track and ended up playing his cards too soon. A floated delivery from Karn Sharma brought Samson out of the crease. Samson missed his shot and got stumped for a score of 17.
Dhruv Jurel got himself run out following a moment of brilliance on the field from Virat Kohli. RR's chase started to go off stray as Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag tried to ease the nerves.
Siraj castled Parag and struck back in the same over to dismiss Hetmyer which raised hopes of an unprecedented comeback.
But they had got the Royals through the tricky part of the chase and set the stage for Rovman Powell to finish the game.
Powell struck two boundaries and cleared the fence on the final ball of the penultimate over to seal a 4-wicket win for Rajasthan. Bengaluru's incredible six wins on trot came to an end on a fighting note.
Earlier, Ravichandran Ashwin finished with figures of 2-19 while Avesh Khan was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with 3-44, bagging the important wickets of Rajat Patidar, Mahipal Lomror, and Dinesh Karthik. For RCB, Lomror played a crucial innings of 32 runs while Virat Kohli smashed 33 and Rajat Patidar scored 34 runs off 22 balls.
Opting to bowl first, RR's Trent Boult started his team's change with a fine two-run over while keeping Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli at bay.
Boult bowled a three-run over but Avesh Khan's 17-run over took off the pressure off RCB batters. Avesh was hit for 17 runs in his first over as Kohli started the over with a six over backward square leg before Faf slammed two fours.
In the 5th over, Boult finally got a reward for putting pressure on the RCB openers as he gave a big blow to RCB, sending attacking opener Faf back to the dugout after he had scored 17 runs off 14 balls.
Kohli added a record to his name after becoming the first batter to reach the milestone of 8000 runs in the IPL. Kohli lost his wicket to Yuzvendra Chahal in the eighth over. Kohli achieved this feat in the 252nd match of his IPL career.
Kohli went for the favored slog-sweep, whipping it away towards deep mid-wicket with a miss timed connection and the ball went into the hands of fielder Donovan Ferreira who settled himself a few inches inside the ropes and took a fine catch.
RCB's star all-rounder Cameron Green decided to up the ante in the 10th over and slammed Yuzvendra Chahal for a six and a four in the two deliveries of the over, gathering 13 runs.
In the 13th over, Ravichandran Ashwin unveiled his magic at a crucial stage with his crafty spin and bamboozled Green and Glenn Maxwell. Green went back to the pavilion after scoring 27 while Maxwell continued his poor form in IPL with a duck. Ashwin signed off with outstanding figures of 2/19 from four overs, removing Green and Maxwell in successive deliveries in his final over.
After dismissing Patidar, Avesh successfully appealed for a leg-before against Dinesh Karthik, almost securing back-to-back wickets. After talking with the non-striker, Karthik took the review. Replays revealed a nick on UltraEdge with the ball near the inside edge of the bat, leading the TV umpire to rule in favor of the batter.
Chahal gave up seven runs in his last over to finish with figures of 1/43. He played tight, giving up just three singles in the first five deliveries. In the last delivery, Lomror slog-swept him for a six.
Avesh then bagged his second wicket of the night as he dismissed Karthik for 11 and went on to dismiss well-set batter Lomror for 32.
In the final over, RCB was able to gather 13 to post a competitive total of 172/8.
