RCB vs RR, Eliminator at Ahmedabad, IPL, May 22 2024 - Match Result

A first win for RR since April 27 and a first loss for RCB since April 21. And that means RCB's wait for an IPL title extends while RR face SRH in the second qualifier day after tomorrow in Chennai. That's all we have from here tonight. KK's report should be up soon, keep an eye out for Alagappan's reaction stories from Ahmedabad. On behalf of Thilak and Abhimanyu, this is Sudarshanan bidding you goodbye! Ciao!

11:42pm Time for the presentations

Sanju Samson, RR captain: "We will have some great days, we will have some really bad days. Important to bounce back. The way we batted, bowled and fielded, I am really happy. All the credit has to go to the players. We look at the fieldset and planning, the credit has to go to Sanga and the team of support staff for discussing tactics. Ashwin and Avesh bowled tremendously well. If you look at our batting unit, there is a lot of youngsters. They are 22 years old, they are less experienced but they played well. A few of us are not 100%. We have the momentum now, so the dressing room is confident."

R Ashwin, Player of the Match: "OUr batting found it tough to put par-plus scores. We lost Buttler, Shimron was injured. I thought we were rusty chasing 170-plus. The confidence will come back. First half of the tournament, my body couldn't move. Had an abdomen injury. Wanted to put my body on the line. When you come from Test match, your body needs to get used to. I bowled a lot off game time also. Needed the bowling time under my belt. We hit really good lengths. When Boult bowled, there was seam and swing. There was no dew when RCB were bowling. We played exceptional shots and some errors as well. Exuberance of youth and experience also."

11:24pm What a way to end a five-match losing streak for RR. They end RCB's dream comeback to set a date with SRH in Qualifier 2. It was not a smooth finish, though, for RR. Throughout the chase, their nerves showed - none more so than during the Samson stumping and the Jurel run-out. But Parag, like he has done all season, held one end up and never let the asking rate get out of hand. RCB's faint hopes rose when Siraj struck twice but it was not to be. The Orange Cap is firmly on Kohli's head, but his team will not have another shot at the title this season. Vagaries of our sport.

Faf du Plessis, RCB captain: "With the dew coming in, we thought we were short with the bat. Needed a few more runs to make it more competitive. Credit to the boys for fighting it out. If you look at naturally assessing the pitch, it looked like a 180-pitch. But we found out this season, with the one extra batter and long line-ups, it can be challenging. We knew we had to score more to challenge them. A lot of teams would have, their wheels would have fallen off after 1 from 9. But we made sure to gave our best and to come back like that - six games in a row - takes a lot of heart. We weren't special tonight in terms of pushing the extra runs."

Rovman Powell: "It wasn't that difficult a situation. It was a situation to get bat to ball. [Discussion with Hetmyer] I was telling him to be positive. It was unfortunate he got out. If it was up to me, I would like to come in earlier and have 10-15 balls under my belt. But we have quality batters in front of me. My first catch was crucial. If we put down that in a crunch game like this, we say it was a tough chance. When you have good players like Faf and Virat, you want those half chances to come to you. If you drop that, they would say very good effort. I think we have been playing good cricket through the IPL, save for the last few games. Looking forward to a good game."

gautham menon : "The greatest batter of all formats need to wait for the coveted IPL title...hope this does not happen in the upcoming T20 world cup..."

PS: "The extra runs gained from the Patidar reprieve was neutralized by DKs run a ball innings. Sad way for DK to exit but he's been magnificent over the years and especially the last few. Potentially the second Indian keeper to exit without a fairytale in a matter of days "

Mustafa Moudi : "RR lost 4 consecutive matches while RCB came into this match winning 6 matches. Law of Averages got better of RCB tonight. Nevertheless, History will never forget how they qualified for the playoffs !!"

R Ashwin will wait at the other end. He was padded up since the powerplay. Ferguson for the penultimate over

West Indies T20I captain Rovman Powell joins his team-mate Hetmyer in the middle. 16 off 16 is easy, should be easy

Karan: "Siraj should see the opponents as Srilanka. "

Siraj

That was the one big over RR needed in the chase. Now 30 off 24 is verrry gettable. Here's Dayal