The pitch adjacent to the one used yesterday is in use today. 61 meters and 68 meters square on either side while the straight hit is 73 meters long. That will be a factor on the captains' minds. A similar surface to yesterday - quite dry, extremely firm but it may have a little more grass cover. Contrary to what the groundsmen said yesterday, there was dew and it gets better to bat on in the second innings. It's currently 43 degrees hot. The groundsmen have had to control the water content in the pitch due to the heat. The fast-bowlers might get some lateral movement and through the air. This particular pitch has been high-scoring in the group stages - the one where GT played CSK. Lots of runs are expected but the toss could be crucial!
VENUE STATS
1st Innings
166Avg Runs
6Avg Wkts
139.35Avg
SR
2nd Innings
154Avg Runs
5Avg Wkts
139.86Avg
SR
Weather Update
Weather Update
Ahmedabad,India
Updated: 22 May 23:00
37°CSmoke
smoke
0%
Clouds
0%
Rain %
24%
Humidity
7 kmph
Wind
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Expert Team 1
V Kohli
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Expert Team 2
S Samson
F du Plessis
Venue Details
Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
The pitch adjacent to the one used yesterday is in use today. 61 meters and 68 meters square on either side while the straight hit is 73 meters long. That will be a factor on the captains' minds. A similar surface to yesterday - quite dry, extremely firm but it may have a little more grass cover. Contrary to what the groundsmen said yesterday, there was dew and it gets better to bat on in the second innings. It's currently 43 degrees hot. The groundsmen have had to control the water content in the pitch due to the heat. The fast-bowlers might get some lateral movement and through the air. This particular pitch has been high-scoring in the group stages - the one where GT played CSK. Lots of runs are expected but the toss could be crucial!
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So that concludes our coverage of this rather fascinating Eliminator. Two more games to go before we know who our winner is and the Kolkata Knight Riders await their opponent for the final, which will be known in Qualifier 2 on Friday as the Sunrisers Hyderabad face the Rajasthan Royals in Chennai. Do join us for our coverage of the same right here on Sportskeeda while keeping yourselves updated with further cricketing news and action from around the world. For the moment, this is the duo of Arya and Sooryanarayanan taking your leave. Thank you so much for tuning in as we hope you enjoyed our coverage. See you soon again - good night and take care!
A win for the Rajasthan Royals and it's their first in the month of May. It has taken a while coming but on the big night, they stepped up and how. No stopping here though as they head to Chennai to face the Sunrisers Hyderabad for a spot in the final against the Kolkata Knight Riders. As for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the fairytale is over. A big achievement to come this far considering where they found themselves at the start of the month. But alas, the dream continues for them. And this means that we will not see a new winner's name engraved on the IPL trophy again.
Ravichandran Ashwin is the Player of the Match, here is what he had to say: We haven't done too well with the bat in the few games. It's not easy for any team to come out of the losses of players we had but the win will give a lot of confidence to the group. The first half of the season my body was not moving well. Having committed to your franchise I wanted to put my body on the line. When you come from Test match mode, I am ageing. The amount of repetitions I need in T20 is a lot. I thought we hit really good lengths. There was little bit in the pitch initially but barring that it played similar. Some basic errors were also made besides the batters playing some tremendous shot. The exuberance of youth and the balance of experience is great. We have got a decent spin attack and if you start well against SRH, anything can happen.
Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals captain): Yeah as I said in the toss what cricket and life has taught us is we will have good and bad phases and it's important to bounce back. The character the team showed, I am really happy with the way we played the game. I think the credit goes to the players. They spend a lot of time looking at the opposition batters. The credit has to go to Sanga and Shane Bond. Bond has been sitting hours and hours in the hotel room. The way Ashwin and Boult bowled was tremendous. I think if you at our batting line up, it's a mixture of a lot of youngsters and a bit of experience. It was tremendous seeing them bringing their skills out. We are not hundred percent, few guys have a cough. Very much looking forward. We have got back the momentum. It will be challenging to keep everyone fresh both physically and mentally.
Trent Boult gets the award for bowling the most dot balls.
Yashasvi Jaiswal gets the award for hitting most fours in the game.
Riyan Parag gets the award for hitting most sixes in the match.
Avesh Khan gets the Ultimate Fantasy Player of the Match Award.
Mahipal Lomror is the Electric Striker of the Match.
It's time for the post match presentation ceremony with Ian Bishop.
It was a good review taken by Faf du Plessis when Yashasvi Jaiswal gloved a length delivery from Cam Green straight to Dinesh Karthik but the umpire nodded his head. Jaiswal knew he had nicked that and the giveaway was on his face. Switch 👇 to relive that dismissal and the particular moment.
Rajasthan Royals won by 4 wickets (with 6 deliveries to spare)
Yashasvi Jaiswal 45(30) | Avesh Khan 3/44(4) Rajat Patidar 34(22) | Mohammed Siraj 2/33(4)
It turned out to be a pretty dominating all-round performance from the Rajasthan Royals as they defeated the Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 4 wickets and with an over to spare. Rajasthan were tested in different situations of the match but in the end, the score of 172 didn't prove to be enough. Yet again in Ahmedabad, the toss proved to be a massive factor. Rajasthan will now square off against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 on May 24 (Friday).
The target of 173 looked below par at the halfway stage from RCB's perspective as dew turned out to be a massive factor yet again. Swapnil Singh and Mohammed Siraj bowled two tight overs conceding just six runs to rest home some confidence. However the third over from Yash Dayal turned it around in favour of the Rajasthan Royals as Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed four boundaries which included a difficult chance in the slip cordon.
With no boundaries in the first three overs, it started to flow from the third over onwards. Siraj conceded three boundaries as Tom Kohler-Cadmore also looked in good touch and played some fine shots. The partnership was going along smoothly when Lockie Ferguson bamboozled Cadmore with a slower yorker which rattled his stumps. Out came Sanju Samson in the middle and the duo of Jaiswal and Samson steadied the ship. The heat in Ahmedabad took a toll on Jaiswal as he looked dehydrated after the first few overs.
Jaiswal scored a stroke-filled 45 before an attempted ramp over fine leg took his gloves and Dinesh Karthik didn't make a mistake. Just when it looked like a stroll in the park for Rajasthan, they lost their skipper Sanju Samson as Karn Sharma deceived him with a widish leg break which had Samson stumped.
Dhruv Jurel smashed a boundary straight up but allowed RCB to claw their way back in the game with a poor bit of running. Virat Kohli did brilliantly in the deep as he picked up the ball very quickly and hurled in a bullet throw. The game was still very much within Rajasthan's grasp and a massive final over from Cameron Green turned the game towards the Royals.
Riyan Parag showed his class again and scored a 26 ball 36 which included a couple of fours and sixes each. Siraj ignited the hopes of RCB with a double wicket 18th over but Lockie Ferguson couldn't quite defend it in the penultimate over. Rovman Powell took the onus on himself and struck a couple of fours and a six to take Rajasthan over the finish line with an over to spare.
Rovman Powell (Rajasthan Royals): It wasn't a difficult situation. It was a situation where you had to get bat to ball. Thankfully for me I got a few boundaries away early so that minimized the pressure. (Discussion with Hetmyer) I was trying to tell him to be positive. Didn't want him to look for a single since when you look for a single the intensity can drop. Just unfortunate that he got out. If it was up to me I would take it a little bit earlier so that when I reach the crease I'd have 10-15 balls to assess. But sometimes when you have quality players you will come in a bit later if the team requires it so you have to accept the role. (On his catching) Sometimes you need something like that - I said to Hetmyer that the first catch was the one that led to four catches. When you let that one go in a crunch game you feel 'ahh, it's not a good day on the field tonight'. When you have good payers like Faf and Virat at the crease you want those half-chances to come to you. If I had dropped that they would have said 'very good effort' but they are such good players and you have to put your body on the line. (Ready for SRH?) Yeah I think we have been playing good cricket for the entire duration of the tournament. It's just the last few games we have messed up but the guys are confident and are looking forward to another good game.
Faf du Plessis (Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain): I think with the dew coming in we probably felt we were a bit short with the bat. We felt like we had to push a few more runs to be competitive. I don't think we were too many runs shy of what was a good score on that pitch. But credit to the guys for how they fought and that's what you can ask for, a great fit. If you look at naturally assessing the pitch and conditions, you would say it was a 180 pitch because it was swinging upfront and holding a bit. But what we've found out is with the extra batter and the sub, par scores are not enough. Especially if there's dew and tonight there was dew. We knew we had to be more than the score we got to challenge them but on a normal occasion it was a par score. I am extremely proud. A lot of other teams, the wheels would have probably fallen off after one from nine (eight games). Credit to the boys to fight and give everything we have. To come back like that, six games in a row, takes a lot of heart and character. It's a sad ending - when it goes like that (six wins in a row) you wonder if it's possibly written in the stars and if there's something special.
Rovman Powell finishes it off in style and Rajasthan Royals will play the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 on Friday. Mohammed Siraj gave RCB a glimmer of hope in the previous over getting a couple of wickets but 13 runs in two overs was always going to be difficult for RCB to defend. Rovman Powell held his nerves and found the boundary twice in the first two deliveries to ease the nerves. Rajasthan will be very proud of how they have come back strongly after not winning a game in May. They have a win in May now and will be hoping to continue the good work and beat Sunrisers in their upcoming encounter. RCB can hold their heads high for an exceptional turnaround in the tournament but today it just wasn't their day.
19
overs
174/6score
4
4
0
0
0
6
runs
Rovman Powell*
16(8)
Ravichandran Ashwin
0(0)
Lockie Ferguson
1/37
18.6 Lockie Ferguson to Rovman Powell, SIX! POWELL FINISHES IT IN STYLE! RR GO THROUGH TO CHENNAI! Slower one in the arc and Powell wastes no time now. Swings down the ground and goes dead straight as he clears the ropes to seal the deal. He's delighted, as is Ashwin although the reactions are the exact opposite for the RCB players. Rajasthan Royals seal a berth in Qualifier 2 with a 4-wicket win and will now play Sunrisers Hyderabad for a spot in the final!
Good change of pace from Lockie Ferguson and has bowled three consecutive dot balls here. The two boundaries might have made things easy for RR but RCB still not giving up.
18.5 Lockie Ferguson to Rovman Powell, slower full one outside the off stump. Powell waits and comes forward before tapping it tentatively to the bowler's left. Three dots on the trot. Will something give?