Challengers book play-offs berth

For the umpteenth time this season, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s match was hit by rain but the crowd that thronged the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the hope of an entertaining affair had something to cheer about.

Soon after the giant screen flashed the words “match abandoned”, the emcee announced Royal Challengers’ entry into the play-offs and a huge roar momentarily drowned the rain fury here on Sunday.

Chasing Delhi Daredevils’ 187/5, Challengers were two without loss of wicket after 1.1 overs when rain halted the proceedings.

The second washout at the Chinnaswamy stadium resulted in the two teams sharing two points.

While Daredevils finished at seventh with 11 points, Royal Challengers tallied 16 points at the end of their league proceedings.

Though 16 points are enough to earn them a place in the last four, the RCB would have loved to finish among the top two, which would have given them two shots at the title.

However, given the start to their campaign, Royal Challengers would be happy to have finished among the top four after a gap of three years.

The last time they had entered the play-offs in 2011, they had ended up as runners-up to Chennai Super Kings.

Later on Sunday night, Mumbai Indians defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad to bag the remaining play-offs berth. Mumbai, though, also have 16 points, same as RCB, finished second, courtesy their eight wins in the league phase. RCB logged seven wins.

IPL’s first criterion to decide the places in case of equal number of points is the number of wins. As a result, Challengers will take the third place ahead of Rajasthan Royals as the Bangalore outfit has a better net run-rate. While Mumbai Indians will face Chennai Super Kings in the first Qualifier in Mumbai on Tuesday, Royal Challengers Bangalore will face Rajasthan Royals’ in the Eliminator on May 20 in Pune.