I'd like to say that was sheer class and tenacity from Royal Challengers Bangalore to have won the game despite losing all those wickets in a flurry. At the halfway stage — even after 15 overs — it looked like RCB was out of it. But AB de Villiers's presence was like a talisman for the hosts, who knew that the South-African batsman had it in him to bring them home single-handedly. He did get the charge started, launching the assault at just the right time. And Iqbal Abdulla did well to keep him company till the end, and even knocking the winning runs too. And bottomline was that the Lions were undone in the first innings, restricted to the middling total of 158, courtesy Shane Watson, Sreenath Aravind and Chris Jordan. It's odd how well the RCB bowlers have done of late notwithstanding the label of having a really weak bowling attack. And they Royal Challengers storm into the final, just like that. And it's the Gujarat Lions who will get one more chance and meet RCB again if they survive the Eliminator.
Two Minutes Of Silence For People Who Thought >#RCB Will Choke Tonight. ;) >#RCBvGL>#IPL2016>#IPL>#IPL9
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) >May 24, 2016
Spare a thought for Dhawal Kulkarni, who engineered a 4-wicket demolition for just 14 runs to knock RCB back down notches.
RCB 159/6 after 18.2 overs (I Abdulla 33 off 25 | AB de Villiers 79 off 47 || win by 4 wickets)
De Villiers knocks a single off, and then Abdulla pats it to Long-on for two runs. And that — would you believe it? — is that! Raucous scenes erupt in Chinnaswamy stadium, as the RCB dugout releases an army of red onto the field, the vanguard of which collides heavily with ABD like a bouncer, knocking his helmet off its moorings. Ouch.
RCB 156/6 after 18 overs (I Abdulla 31 off 24 | AB de Villiers 78 off 46 || need 3 from 12 balls)
The DJ now, trying to spin this disc back on track for the Lions, with a wicket or a maiden. Either of those two would do nicely for the guests right about now.
He's begun with 4 leg-byes, as ABD misses a scoop but the ball ricochets off his thigh-pad. A loud shot now as ABD flashes at a full-and-wide delivery but Umpire doesn't think there's an edge there. Now, Bravo has delivered another wide. And Abdulla has smacked three consecutive fours before I can get my wits about me. The first is a nurdle off the legs into the Fine-leg boundary. Then, an outside edge behind square on the off-side. Then, he has whipped a shot worthy of his captain Kohli's own repertoire into the Midwicket boundary. 18 crushing runs. And that's the game pretty much in the bag, I should suppose.
What a crazy evening.
RCB 138/6 after 17 overs (I Abdulla 20 off 21 | AB de Villiers 77 off 43 || need 21 from 18 balls)
Praveen Kumar is coming around the wicket to cramp de Villiers up. But De Villiers has latched onto him, launching him high and far into the stands beyond Deep-Midwicket for six . And then he reverse-sweeps a ball on leg-stump into the Point boundary for four . Nerveless. That's the word. 12 runs closer, is RCB, to the final.
RCB 126/6 after 16 overs (I Abdulla 19 off 20 | AB de Villiers 66 off 38 || need 33 from 24 balls)
AB! What a bloke. He's just gotten down on his knees and just flicked Jakati over Square-leg for six . Man for the pressure situation. Now, he's contagious, and he's infected Abdulla, who's smashed it for a six that just carries over the outstretched arms of the fielder at Deep-Midwicket. These men are really bringing the game alive. 16 of the best ones in that over.
RCB 110/6 after 15 overs (I Abdulla 11 off 17 | AB de Villiers 58 off 35 || need 49 from 30 balls)
Ravi Shastri informs us that at this stage the Lions were 94/4. So, the two sides are not all that drastically contrasting. Just that the pressure of a target adds to the burden.
ABD is switching gears. He has whipped Smith into the straight boundary for a four , and then miscuing a lofted shot just over Long-off for six , and then bashing it to Deep-Midwicket, where Bravo puts his life on the line and parries it away from the boundary.
AB de Villiers' 37th six - now has most sixes in >#IPL 2016 ahead of Virat Kohli (36 sixes) >#RCBvGL
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) >May 24, 2016
RCB 96/6 after 14 overs (I Abdulla 8 off 14 | AB de Villiers 47 off 32 || need 63 from 36 balls)
Bravo back to lie to the batsmen. Abdulla tries the cheekiest of ramp shots, and unnecessarily risks an caught-behind appeal. Great over from Bravo. Just 4 runs.
RCB 92/6 after 13 overs (I Abdulla 6 off 10 | AB de Villiers 45 off 30 || need 67 from 42 balls)
The batsmen play Sir Jadeja's final over out for just 3 runs. Good spell of 2/21 by the savvy southpaw. And a Time-out.
RCB 89/6 after 12 overs (I Abdulla 5 off 7 | AB de Villiers 43 off 27 || need 70 from 48 balls)
The wily Dwayne Bravo in now. ABD cracks him through Extra Cover for four . 8 runs off the over.
RCB 81/6 after 11 overs (I Abdulla 3 off 4 | AB de Villiers 37 off 24 || need 78 from 54 balls)
De Villiers is still around folks. Don't forget that. And while he is here, you will get to see shots such as the one he's used to despatch Jakati over his head for a giant six off a free-hit. This may be a very thrilling game, if ABD takes matters into his own hands and makes a dash for the middling target off his own steam. Oh what fun it'll be (rubs hands gleefully).
RCB 70/6 after 10 overs (I Abdulla 1 off 1 | AB de Villiers 29 off 20 || need 89 from 60 balls)
Jadeja has restarted the RCB wicket engine, by having Binny attempt a failed sweep-shot on his pads. It might have just hit him outside off-stump, but the Umpire has raised his finger.
>#SirJadeja Doesn't Appeal. >#SirJadeja Demands, And No One Can Deny Him. Not Even Umpires. >#RCBvGL>#IPL2016>#IPL>#IPL9
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) >May 24, 2016
RCB 65/5 after 9 overs (S Binny 20 off 13 | AB de Villiers 26 off 17 || need 94 from 66 balls)
Now, Shadab Jakati into the attack. Binny takes to him immediately. Stepping out to the second ball, he slashes it over and above Point for four . Then delicately nurdles it for another four , through Fine-leg. And after inducing a wide ball, Binny rushes down the track again and pumps it for a six over Long-off. Even if Binny strokeplay doesn't last for too much longer, he has already done quite some damage to the target with this 18-run over.
RCB 47/5 after 8 overs (S Binny 6 off 8 | AB de Villiers 23 off 16 || need 112 from 72 balls)
Kulkarni bowls out his first uneventful over today. Just 6 runs worth of punches, jabs and cuts.
4 overs 4 for 14! Well done DK! >#RCBvGL>pic.twitter.com/w28224v8uQ
— Antony (@antony_tweetz) >May 24, 2016
RCB 41/5 after 7 overs (S Binny 2 off 5 | AB de Villiers 21 off 13 || need 118 from 78 balls)
Oops. Jadeja has let just a bit of momentum slip here with two boundaries to de Villiers. One is outside-edged through Third-man for four ; and the other is driven — nay — crunched through the Covers for four . 10 runs come off that over.
RCB 31/5 after 6 overs (S Binny 1 off 2 | AB de Villiers 12 off 10 || need 128 from 84 balls)
And now Sachin Baby (0 from 3) has played a juvenile shot, punching it in the air straight to Extra Cover, where he is taken comfortably by Jakati.
RCB is chasing like the India of 90s. Virat Kohli fails, they start tumbling. >#RCBvGL
— God's Lonely Man! (@GodsLonelyMan06) >May 24, 2016
RCB 28/4 after 5 overs (S Baby 0 off 1 | AB de Villiers 10 off 8)
Ravindra Jadeja is now in. And he has made Shane Watson (1 from 6) top-edge this horrible sweep shot that floats right up. And as Karthik's eyes dart and jerk around the sky looking for te bal, Dwayne Smith at First Slip has already pouched it. RCB are withering here.
If you're an RCB fan who's breaking his furniture right now, rest easy, mate. This is not a knock-out game. It's a good thing RCB ended up at second place in the league and they'll have another shot at the the final.
RCB 25/3 after 4 overs (S Watson 0 off 3 | AB de Villiers 8 off 6)
Ohoho Kulkarni has struck big time this over. Gayle (9 from 12) swishes all over that length delivery and it knocks his stumps off.
What's this now? Has Kulkarni got KL Rahul to edge it to First Slip off his first ball? Yep. Sure has. That puts him on a hat-trick. What an over this is turning out to be. A double-wicket maiden.
RCB 25/1 after 3 overs (C Gayle 9 off 10 | AB de Villiers 8 off 6)
Praveen is launched into the Long-off boundary for six . AB de Villiers will not have his favourite partner-in-crime around him tonight, but he will continue to do his own thing. 8 runs.
RCB 17/1 after 2 overs (C Gayle 9 off 8 | AB de Villiers 1 off 2)
Virat, Virat, Virat. What have you done? You still had 81 more runs to make this innings. Kohli (0 from 2) just didn't move his feet to that wide-ish full delivery from Dhawal Kulkarni and chops it on to his stumps. That spurs Kulkarni some. And he bounces one into Gayle's helmet. But Gayle has swatted the next ball for four through Midwicket.
Whenever Virat fails to score, Anushka sharma will trend by default >#RCBvGL
— Babu Badham (@IlakathMaflia) >May 24, 2016
RCB 11/0 after 1 over (C Gayle 5 off 5 | V Kohli 0 off 1)
Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle stride out to chase down this tricky total of 159. Also, will Kohli — currenly with 919 runs — get to 1,000 runs this tournament? Tall ask, sure. But remember, it's Kohli we're talking about.
And Gayle has smacked the very second ball for four . Praveen Kumar needs to reset his radar for left-hander; or he'll keep bowling 5 wides to the southpaw where he might have got an edge bowling the outswinger tin the right-hander's off-stump channel.
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And that's a fortuitous finish for a side that received too many early and late blows — courtesy Sreenath Aravind and Shane Watson. Dwayne Smith really plugged the wicket for all it was worth, with his dominating and tremendously exciting 41-ball 73. Watson, as always, was really savvy with the ball — and BTW he now holds the Purple Cap with his 20 wickets. And if it weren't for Eklavya Dwivedi's and Dhawal Kulkarni's antics at the end, Royal Challengers might have restricted Gujarat Lions to under 150, which would have been highly gettable for the kind of line-up they boast.
May Kohli touch 1000 tonight!! >#RCBvGL
— Kutta Road Ka - KRK (@TweetMaarKhan) >May 24, 2016
Royal Challengers have, one feels, done the hard part — bowling — well. Now, to unleash their strong suit.
GL 158 after 20 overs (S Jakati 1 off 2)
Jordan to complete the innings. Whoops. Praveen Kumar (1 from 2) has lost his off-stump to a searing quick full delivery. What a ball and what a bowler in this kind of situation. And Kulkarni (10 from 4) is run-out off the final ball.
GL 154/8 after 19 overs (P Kumar 0 off 0 | D Kulkarni 8 off 2)
Dwivedi! What is he made of? He has smacked two consecutive sixers off Watson — one over Extra Cover and the other over Midwicket. Oh oh. Now Dwivedi (19 from 9) is gone, trying again, but getting it straight into Kohli's hands at Long-on. Third Umpire was summoned to rule whether the catch was taken cleanly.
And now, Bravo (8 from 6) is cleaned up from around the wicket — again, the Third Umpire must decide whether Watto's foot landed inside the Return Crease.
And Now Dhawal Kulkarni has thumped it for two fours — through Midwicket and Long-off — to end the over. 21 runs. Just what the doctor ordered, although they lost two attacking batsmen.
GL 133/6 after 18 overs (E Dwivedi 7 off 6 | D Bravo 8 off 5)
Jordan is trying to get those yorkers in, and the odd ball goes wide down leg. And some become full-tosses to allow Bravo to open the face and steer through Cover for four . 12 runs off that useful over.
GL 121/5 after 17 overs (E Dwivedi 5 off 2 | D Bravo 3 off 3)
Smith is not done yet. Now Chahal has been deposited way out in the stands over Deep Midwicket for six . Ok, now he is done. Chahal draws him in, by bowling it short and wide, and Smith (73 from 41) bites, stretching across to pull it straight into Kohli's hands at Midwicket.
Eklavya Dwivedi comes in and plays a cheeky inside-edged lap-shot first up for four . They need more of these if 150 is to become possible.
GL 108/5 after 16 overs (D Smith 67 off 39 | D Bravo 1 off 1)
The ball is well and truly rising off the pitch now. Watson is making it. And after conditioning the batsmen on the back-foot, he slips in a full and wide delivery that Ravindra Jadeja (3 from 7) can only crunch straight into Gayle's hands at Point.
GL 104/4 after 15 overs (D Smith 65 off 37 | R Jadeja 1 of 2)
Aravind comes back. Smith powers a full-toss over Square-leg for six , like he were patting his nephew on the head. Easy as you please. Boy, does this man have muscle. 10 runs off the over.
GL 94/4 after 14 overs (D Smith 58 off 34 | R Jadeja 0 of 1)
And Karthik (26 from 30) has brought the 85-run partnership to a close by dragging Jordan back onto his stumps. Well, Karthik might want to have thought again about trying to lap-sweep a ball from outside off-stump. One of the most awkward ways to get out. Got what it deserved. And a Time-out.
Raina: I Have A Plan To Stop Virat Kohli From Making 100. Commentator: How? Raina: Let's Get Out Before 150. >#RCBvGL>#IPL2016>#IPL9
— Gopi (@GopiKiccha) >May 24, 2016
GL 89/3 after 13 overs (D Smith 56 off 32 | D Karthik 23 of 27)
Abdulla continues. Karthik has swept him for four through Square-leg. And Smith too, getting into the act now. Absolutely mishits it for four through Long-on, and then swings a six straight over his head. And that's his half-century, would you believe it. Feels like he just waddled in a couple of overs ago.
There has been a slight shift in momentum with Smith hitting a fifty off 31 balls to lead GL's recovery >#RCBvGL>#IPL2016 - *_HaIDeR_*
— #IPL 2016 (@IPL_09) >May 24, 2016
GL 72/3 after 12 overs (D Smith 38 off 25 | D Karthik 17 of 22)
Chahal can't bowl out a good over as Smith tonks him for a six off the last ball. A productive over for the Lions. 8 runs come off it.
GL 64/3 after 11 overs (D Smith 38 off 25 | D Karthik 17 of 22)
Abdullla with more spin. Now Dinesh Karthik gets the tickle under his attempted sweep-shot that runs away real fine for four . There was turn and bounce that over. I just don't know what to think about this wicket anymore. 6 runs off it.
GL 58/3 after 10 overs (D Smith 37 off 24 | D Karthik 12 of 17)
And regroup, the Lions seem to have done. Smith gets low on his knees and welcomes Chahal back with an 81-metre sixer of Cow-Corner. And now he has bunted it straight over his head to beat AB de Villiers at the boundary . Some rapid running too. So Lions showing good intent now. And luck follows, as Smith gets a coy under-edge to an attempted cut-shot, and it goes through KL Rahul's legs through to the straight boundary behind. 16 runs of the over.
IPL accountant to Raina: Here, take your cheque. Raina: Bounce to nahi hoga na? :( >#RCBvGL
— Crazzy Azzy (@crazzy_azzy) >May 24, 2016
GL 42/3 after 9 overs (D Smith 20 off 15 | D Karthik 9 of 14)
Stuart Binny drains the ball of all pace. And has bowled a 4-run over to usher in the first Strategic Time-out. Lions need to reassemble here and look to build partnerships.
GL 38/3 after 8 overs (D Smith 20 off 15 | D Karthik 9 of 14)
Now, Yuzvendra Chahal — the new IPL-to-National-side transfer — is in. And you know he's going to be real skiddy on this wicket. Batsmen unable to really middle him, let alone avoid leading edges.
GL 33/3 after 7 overs (D Smith 18 off 12 | D Karthik 6 of 11)
Chris Jordan comes on now, Post-Powerplay. Begins, as usual, with a wide ball. And then a leg-bye. And now, Smith has twisted himself to hoick that short ball over Square-leg for six . What a relief to actually see runs flowing.
GL 23/3 after 6 overs (D Smith 11 off 8 | D Karthik 5 of 9)
Watson is varying his lengths here now. Slipping in the yorker-length balls, the short ones, the nagging off-stump-huggers. Just 3 runs.
GL 20/3 after 5 overs (D Smith 10 off 7 | D Karthik 3 of 4)
Abdulla again. And Dwayne Smith finally cracks one for four through Square-leg, rocking back, and then smacking it for another four through Point. That was a decent over at last for the Lions. 10 runs.
GL 10/3 after 4 overs (D Smith 1 off 2 | D Karthik 2 of 3)
Shane Watson into the attack. And after half an over of weak shots, Suresh Raina (1 from 9) has swivel-pulled a riser at Short Fine-leg, where Aravind catches it low. Boy, is this going to be low-scoring match or what? #Low.
I'm worried that if RCB chase small total today, kohli may not even get to score 1000 runs. Pls GL score something respectable >#RCBvGL
— PeedluK RaklareN (@KuldeepNeralkar) >May 24, 2016
GL 9/2 after 3 overs (S Raina 1 off 5 | D Karthik 2 of 3)
Again and again, Aravind is sneaking it low on the batsman. Just 2 runs.
GL 7/2 after 2 overs (S Raina 0 off 1 | D Karthik 1 of 1)
Iqbal Abdulla comes in. Oh no! What has McCullum (1 from 4) done? Why sky the first ball of the second over into Long-off's hands? Why, Baz, why? You could've given us something special. And now, it's Finch (4 from 6) who has jabbed forward against the turn, edging it to First Slip.
And Lions are under the cosh. This is not the start they were looking at, especially with the real challenge yet to come in the shape of Kohli.
GL 2/0 after 1 over (A Finch 0 off 3 | B McCullum 1 of 3)
Sreenath Aravind to begin things for Royal Challengers Bangalore tonight.
And ok whoa. I am prepared to go out on a limb and say we're going to see a lot of soft dismissals today. The ball is keeping resolutely low. The first two slide under Aaron Finch's bat.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore have won the toss and Virat Kohli will chase . That's not good news for Gujarat Lions. They have been rubbed raw by Kohli, who's cracked two tons against them this tournament.
Gujarat Lions are playing an unchanged side from their previous winning combination...
AJ Finch, BB McCullum*, SK Raina, KD Karthik†, DR Smith, RA Jadeja, DJ Bravo, ER Dwivedi, SB Jakati, P Kumar, DS Kulkarni
Royal Challengers Bangalore too stay the same...
CH Gayle, V Kohli*, AB de Villiers, KL Rahul†, SR Watson, Sachin Baby, STR Binny, CJ Jordan, Iqbal Abdulla, S Aravind, YS Chahal
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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the first IPL Qualifier match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions in Bengaluru. The two league-toppers come together today in what could be a dress rehearsal for the final. And while it was the Lions who finished at the pinnacle, the hosts RCB will be considered the favourites, given their captain's form and energy.
