AHMEDABAD: Rajasthan Royals batter Riyan Parag (36 off 26 balls; 2×4, 2×6) added another chapter to his evolution as a cricketer on Wednesday. Even when he lost his captain Sanju Samson to a reckless stroke and Dhruv Jurel was involved in a contentious run-out, Parag maintained his composure. Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell too came to the party to take RR, who were chasing a 173-run target, past RCB by four wickets here on Wednesday.
RCB’s six-match winning streak ended in the Eliminator while RR will now play Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second qualifier in Chennai on Friday.
The over that changed the tide in RR’s favour was the 16th by Cameron Green, in which Parag hit him for a six inside out over extra cover before deftly placing him past short third man for a four. Hetmyer’s maximum meant the over yielded 17 runs. This was followed by a Yash Dayal over, in which 11 runs were scored.
Despite Siraj dismissing Parag with a yorker and Hetmyer being brilliantly caught by Faf Du Plessis in the 18th over, Powell, who grabbed four catches in the first innings, took them over the line with an over to spare.
Chasing 173 set by RCB, RR had a sedate two overs in which they scored only six runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal (45 off 30b, 8×4) then got going, hitting 16 off a Yash Dayal over. Tom Kohler-Cadmore (20 off 15b; 4×4) then hit two boundaries off a Mohammed Siraj over. The introduction of Lockie Ferguson paid dividends as he castled the English opener with a slower yorker. Jaiswal was caught behind off Green in the 9th over.
Samson was stumped in the next over and this brought Jurel and Parag together. The duo added 26 before the former was run out by some athletic piece of fielding by Virat Kohli. Parag and Hetmyer then added 45 in 25 balls to tilt the match in RR’s favour.
Earlier, RR bowlers stepped up, and aided by good catching, restricted RCB to 172/8. Opting to field, the Powerplay was a contest of two halves. If it was Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc who shone with his swing bowling on Tuesday, it was the turn of New Zealand pacer Trent Boult to deliver the goods today.
Boult didn’t uproot the stumps like Starc, but delivered a dream opening spell (3-0-6-1). Denied scoring opportunities by Boult, Kohli and Du Plessis attacked the other bowlers. Kohli began with a flick off Sandeep Sharma, who was then belted down the ground for a six by Du Plessis.
In a bid to break the shackles against Boult, the RCB captain danced down the wicket and slammed a short ball towards deep midwicket only to be spectacularly caught by a diving Rovman Powell.
Kohli (33 off 24b; 3×4, 1×6) looked to target Yuzvendra Chahal in his first over. An attempt to slog sweep the leg spinner ended in the hands of substitute fielder Donovan Ferreira at deep mid-wicket.
Cameron Green (27 off 21b; 2×4, 1×6) then smashed Chahal for a maximum over the leg side boundary and followed it up with a four over long off. Ashwin then dismissed Green and Maxwell off consecutive balls to peg back RCB.
Rajat Patidar (34 off 22b; 2×4, 2×6) and Mahipal Lomror smashed sixes off Chahal before the former hit another maximum off Khan. Khan, though, had the last laugh, having Patidar caught at mid-off by Riyan Parag.
Dinesh Karthik (11 off 12b; 1×4) survived a close LBW call off his first ball after DRS overturned an on field decision. However, he failed to inject momentum into the innings and was caught by Jaiswal at cover off Khan. Despite Mahipal Lomror’s cameo (32 off 17b; 2×4, 2×6) , RCB never got the push towards the death overs and ended with 172.