RCB's 16th win in last 21
A massive night for RCB. It has come easier than they would have expected. They will now hope it's fourth time lucky in the final. We leave you with a teaser from our final report.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru waltzed their way into their first IPL final since 2016 as they blew away Punjab Kings for 101 on a surface with seam and extra bounce. Batting didn’t get any easier in the second innings, but Phil Salt broke the back of the small chase in the powerplay that went for 61 despite a wicket-maiden in it.
The RCB fast bowlers kept bashing the hard lengths as PBKS refused to dial down the aggression on the challenging surface, taking seven wickets between them. The legspinner Suyash Sharma was the beneficiary of some reckless sweeping; they didn’t pick any of the wrong’uns, losing three wickets to him. The ball bounced and moved more in the second innings than the first, just the time for Salt to unleash his quickest fifty in the IPL, off just 23 balls, to take RCB home with a whole 10 overs to spare.
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RCB in their fourth final
With a massive slog-sweep off Musheer Khan's left-arm spin, Rajat Patidar seals RCB's progress into the final with a whole 10 overs to spare. Phil Salt is unbeaten on 56 off 27.
PBKS have another shot at making the final. Knowing what we know now, it was actually a good toss to lose for PBKS. The ball did more in the second innings than in the first, but PBKS just didn't have the runs to play with. Should they have used their experience of 111 all out previously and tried to be more measured and adjust their sights? Easy to say in hindsight. This is where experience comes into play.
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Salt gets to fifty: 87 for 2 in 8.2
On this brutish pitch, the ball has moved and bounced more in the second innings than in the first. What a time then for Phil Salt to score his quickest fifty in the IPL: just 23 balls. The win is a mere formality now.
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Salt punishes Jamieson: 61 for 1 in 6
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That's Jamieson's over immediately after the wicket-maiden. Phil Salt has completely bashed small errors in length to knock off 21% of the total in one over. This game is as good as done now.
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Salt calms nerves for RCB: 40 for 1 in 5
For a while it seemed RCB couldn't lay bat on ball there, but Phil Salt gets the better of Azmatullah Omarzai with a powerful square cut and then a nice steer behind square. Nearly 40% of runs scored for the loss of just one wicket.
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All happening in New Chandigarh: 30 for 1 in 4
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The ball is hooping around, and it is incredibly loud at the ground. Four balls bowled to Mayank Agarwal, and he has beaten the bat three times. The third time the umpire buckles, and lifts his finger. Agarwal reviews to get reinstated.
That's a wicket-maiden.
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Test dismissal for Kohli: 30 for 1 in 3.2
This is almost like a Test dismissal for Virat Kohli. Just short of a length, in the channel, seam movement, extra bounce for Kyle Jamieson, and Kohli looks to steer it off the front foot. Edged to the keeper. Too little too late for PBKS?
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Kohli off to a quick start: 17 for 0 in 2
With a majestic first-ball pull off a high bouncer from Arshdeep Singh, Virat Kohli has got this chase off to a quick start. There is some seam movement around, but PBKS can't attack a lot because they don't have runs to play with.
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Jitesh plucks a one-hander: 101 all out in 14.1
Josh Hazlewood has a third wicket. Azmatullah Omarzai slogs, Hazlewood remains on the hard length, and Jitesh Sharma takes a one-handed stunner overhead. PBKS are bowled out for 101, ten fewer than what they managed to successfully defend earlier this year. They will need the lowest successful defence in the IPL if they are to win.
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Shepherd leads Brar to dismissal: 97 for 9 in 13.3
Romario Shepherd, the tallest bowler in the RCB, bangs the ball in and draws appreciable seam movement to go with extra bounce. Harpreet Brar is hit on the elbow, and the ball ricochets into the stumps. Kyle Jamieson walks out to bat at 11.
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Finally a sweep connects: 91 for 8 in 12.3
Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis have been had on the slog sweep. Musheer Khan on the big regulation sweep. Azmatullah Omarzai, though, finally connects with the slog-sweep on a wrong'un and just clears deep midwicket.
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Stoinis misses another wrong'un: 78 for 8 n 10.3
It helps to watch the ball out of the hand once in a while. Nobody is picking the wrong'un. Shashank failed to pick it, Musheer didn't pick it, and now Marcus Stoinis tries the big slog sweep and is bowled comprehensively again.
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Impact Sub falls for a duck: 60 for 7 in 8.5
This is a disaster for PBKS. Playing for the first time this year, Musheer Khan has been pushed in as a firefighter, and ends up with burnt hands. First he plays a googly off the pitch and nearly gets out. Then tries the big sweep, misses completely, and Suyash Sharma has two wickets in his first over.
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Spin is in, Shashank is out: 60 for 6 in 8
RCB have bowled eight overs of pace before spin comes. The longest such stretch this year was 11 overs by GT against RCB.
Shashank Singh sees a scoring opportunity in Suyash Sharma, but doesn't pick the wrong'un. He is bowled neck and crop.
PBKS, who have batting till No. 10, have pushed out Prabhsimran Singh for Musheer Khan, a specialist batter. Now they have batting till 11.
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PBKS half gone: 50 for 5 in 6.3
Nehal Wadhera is the latest to join the procession. Just the little bit of seam movement takes his inside edge. Wadhera tries to punch Yash Dayal from short of a length. Takes the edge and clatters into the leg stump.
Vorat Kohli's shouts from behind sum it up: Keep bowling hard lengths.
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RCB own the powerplay: 48 for 4 in 6
2 Number of times PBKS have lost four wickets in the powerplay this IPL. The last one happened right here when they were bowled out for 111. They did end up defending the score successfully.
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Hazlewood gets Inglis: 38 for 4 in 5.1
This is proving to be a blowout at this moment. Josh Hazlewood has got just the pitch for him. He can keep hanging that hard length and keep getting the extra bounce. How long can Josh Inglis pick just singles? He tries the big pull, gets a top edge, and is caught at long leg. Hazlewood 1.1-0-4-2.
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Iyer falls cheaply at Mullanpur again: 30 for 3 in 3.4
Shreyas Iyer is gone. Josh Hazlewood has got him again. Tries a big shot, the length is not there. It is neither full nor short but he is looking to pull it over midwicket or mid-on. RCB are on absolute fire.
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Openers gone: 27 for 2 in 3
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Prabhsimran Singh keeps giving Bhuvneahwar Kumar the charge in the third over. The first one, the third ball of the over, goes over mid-off. The next over mid-on. To the fifth he stays back, opens the face of the bat, and the short third keeps him on strike with a dive. On the final ball, Prabhsimran charges again, but Bhuvneshwar goes even shorter and takes his outside edge. RCB have been spot on with their fielding.
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Arya finds man at cover: 9 for 1 in 1.2
Priyansh Arya doesn't often make the effort to get close to the ball when driving. That wrks for him often, but also makes it difficult to keep the ball down. To this full and wide ball, he plays that drive away from the body, and neither keeps it down nor goes up and over. Straight catch for the man at cover. Yash Dayal has an early wicket.
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500 for Prabhsimran: 8 for 0 in 1
Tidy start from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The one loose ball was punched away for four by Priyansh Sharma, and Prabhsimran Singh narrowly avoided edging one that seamed away. The single off the last ball takes him to 500 runs for the season. Yash Dayal is sharing the new ball.
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RCB win the toss and bowl first
Royal Challengers Bengaluru welcomed back captain Rajat Patidar to full fitness, and Josh Hazlewood back into the XI. Patidar came out for the toss after playing the last two matches as non-captain, and won the toss immediately. RCB were also the away team in the Qualifier 1. They won all their seven away games in the league stage. However, they were still without Tim David, who seemed to have injured his hamstring during their penultimate league match.
Punjab Kings were still without Yuzvendra Chahal, and they also lost Marco Jansen to the South Africa Test side. Azmatullah Omarzai came in for him. New Chandigarh was PBKS’ home ground during the league stage, but they didn’t have a great record at home. They won two, lost two, and their captain Shreyas Iyer scored just 25 runs in those four matches.
This was RCB’s first top-two finish since 2016. PBKS made the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Both sides were looking for their maiden title. The team losing this match was guaranteed a second shot at making the final. Both sides finished the league stage on the same number of points, with PBKS leading on net run rate.
Punjab Kings 1 Priyansh Arya, 2 Prabhsimran Singh, 3 Josh Inglis (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt.), 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai, 9 Harpreet Brar, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Arshdeep Singh
Possible Impact Subs Vijaykumar Vyshak, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Musheer Khan, Xavier Bartlett
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Rajat Patidar (capt.), 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Yash Dayal, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Suyash Sharma
Possible Impact Subs Mayank Agarwal, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh
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Conditions in New Chandigah
Matthew Hayden says it is dry and expects turn. He is saying it is more an 180 pitch than 200. Rajat Patidar is coming out for the toss. That's good news for RCB
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Bengaluru's road to Q1
They have ditched big names for big impact. They have finished in the top two for the first time since 2016. This is RCB's story. By Shashank Kishore.
Prior to the mega auction last November, their director of cricket Mo Bobat made it non-negotiable that the franchise would assess players not by "how they play" but "how we want them to play." His vision put role clarity over reputation. It was no longer about assembling the best players; it was about assembling the right ones.
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Punjab's road to Q1
This is PBKS' first playoffs appearance in 11 years. They are not satisfied yet. This is their story. By Nagraj Gollapudi.
"He's a funny guy," Jansen says. "I can hear him a mile away. From out of nowhere [he'll say] 'Marco, yaar' and then I'll just go, 'Arsh, yaar.' I really enjoyed working with him and playing with him, especially because initially I thought he wasn't going to be as open to sharing how different grounds play and how the different wickets react with the ball and what happens. [Arshdeep's knowledge and inputs were] very, very helpful for me."
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Qualifier time
It took us a while but we are finally there. The Qualifier 1 to decide who takes the most direct route to the final. It's Punjab Kings against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. They were not on many pundits' predictions list to finish one and two, but they have played superb cricket to get here. They are separated only by net run rate. So let's get it rolling.
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