All that hope and expectations cultivated through a month of toil and some good fortune dissipated in the hot and dry air of the Narendra Modi stadium on Wednesday as Royal Challengers Bengaluru crashed out of the IPL-17 after being outdone by a determined Rajasthan Royals.
The Royal Challengers came into the do-or-die Eliminator clash buzzing with confidence, having won six games on the bounce and miraculously securing the final play-off ticket which seemed out of bounds following a wretched opening half where they posted just one win in eight games.
Inaugural champions Rajasthan, on the other hand, were on a free-fall after failing to win a single game in their last five appearances with one of them being washed out. The momentum was totally on Royal Challengers’ side, especially given the individual form of most of their players.
The contrasting form of the two sides was there to be seen here on Wednesday. Despite stuttering with the bat in reaching a below-par 172/8 and then taken to the cleaners by Rajasthan openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tom Kohler-Cadmore where they misfielded and dropped a catch, Royal Challengers never lost belief as they kept themselves in the hunt by picking up wickets at regular intervals.
And when Virat Kohli conjured a piece of magic from the outfield with a sizzling throw that Cameron Green appeared to collect and catch Dhruv Jurel short of this crease controversially, Rajasthan were in deep trouble at 112/4 in the 14th over. A further 61 off 41 balls was needed and although it looked gettable, especially in modern times, it was still a tough ask given how Royal Challengers’ tails were up. In fact, the Challengers never gave up and kept going at Rajasthan till the end.
Riyan Parag, who has fashioned multiple wins for Rajasthan this season with his fearless hitting, yet again put his hands with a game-changing knock. The Assamese, in the form of his life and striking the ball as good as he ever has, smashed a superb counter-attacking 26-ball 36. Even more importantly, he forged a 45-run stand off 25 balls with Shimron Hetmyer which included 17 runs off 16th over that swung the game Rajasthan’s way.
Parag, looking to finish the game quickly, was castled by Mohammed Siraj but the game was in Royals’ bag as only 16 was needed off as many balls. There was some artificial excitement when Hetmyer too followed him back to the hut four balls later but at that stage even the Challengers knew pulling off a miracle from there was next to impossible. Rajasthan crossed the line with 6 balls and four wickets to spare to set-up a Qualifier 2 clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on Friday.
While Rajasthan batters made heavy weather of a routine chase, their bowlers, especially Trent Boult (1/16) was brilliant throughout. He bowled an exceptional opening spell 3-0-6-1 and lead spinners R Ashwin (2/19) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/43) ensured RCB batters never got off their shackles by picking up wickets at regular intervals.
Every time RCB seemed to gain some momentum, they kept losing wickets to eventually settle for a below-par score. RCB bowlers gave it their all but it was not enough against a determined Rajasthan.