Overcoming early setbacks, Royal Challengers Bangalore outplayed Rajasthan Royals by 71 runs in the Eliminator match of IPL-8 at the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium here on Wednesday.
RCB will now square off with Chennai Super Kings in the second Qualifier in Ranchi on Friday for a place in the final.
There were sufficient hints of a contest in the first seven overs when seamer Dhawal Kulkarni removed Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli.
But A.B. de Villiers and Mandeep Singh counterattacked with some heavy hitting helping RCB along to a formidable 180, a score good enough to impose considerable score-board pressure.
As it transpired RR’s run chase declined rapidly after Ajinkya Rahane’s exit, and the side eventually caved in.
Gripping tussleThe gripping tussle in the early phase had Kulkarni — who has been named in the Indian team for the ODIs against Bangladesh — in the spotlight.
He not only succeeded in keeping Kohli quiet, but also demonstrated that he can rise to the occasion, outwitting the RCB captain with some clever bowling.
Gayle punished Kulkarni with a couple of unorthodox blows. But the Mumbai seamer had the last laugh, dismissing the Jamaican with a straight delivery that beat the swinging bat and hit the top of the middle stump. Gayle’s reprieve earlier — Sanju Samson’s throw missed the stumps after Gayle had given up on making the crease — did not cost the Royals too much.
It was a big breakthrough as Gayle was threatening to cut loose, with Kohli struggling to find his feet and offering most of the strike to his left-handed partner. Soon after the Royals celebrated Gayle’s removal, Kulkarni forced an error from Kohli who perished offering a tame return catch. After losing the toss, Steve Smith and his team, strove hard. The fall of Gayle and Kohli within a space of four balls appeared to give Royals the upper hand in the first session, and when RCB was 47 for four in the ninth over, the team in red and gold was left facing an uphill task.
But, when de Villiers is in the middle with a bat in hand in a Twenty20 game, a run riot is always on the cards.
The turn-aroundThe South African first outsmarted Shane Watson with a delicate off-glide and then proceeded to play his shots against pace and spin.
At the other end, Mandeep Singh played some attacking shots of his own, and soon the RCB dug-out cheered the 100-run stand.
Mandeep pulled Kulkarni — bowling his third straight over — to the boundary, off-drove him for six and employed the slash over point and sweep to race to his half century.
The partnership reflected the unpredictability of the game’s shortest form.
RCB may well have been groping in the dark had not de Villiers and Mandeep turned it around.
From scoring at 5.22 till the ninth over, RCB powered on to 180, with the runs coming at 12.09 over the next eleven.
It was a recovery that had the unmistakable stamp of de Villiers on it, and though the match was won comfortably, the crowd got its money’s worth.
