IPL 2024 Eliminator: RCB’s dream run ends as Ashwin, Parag fire RR to Qualifier 2

RCB’s dream run in the IPL 2024 season has come to an end as the heroics from Riyan Parag and R Ashwin powered RR to the Qualifier 2 on May 22, Wednesday.

Royals won the match by 4 wickets as RCB’s efforts weren’t enough on the day. While there were moments of uncertainity in the RR chase, Parag and Shimron Hetmyer were able to see their team off in the end.

RR had won the toss on the day and opted to bowl first, probably after seeing the success KKR got against SRH in Qualifier 1. The start was great from Trent Boult, who gave nothing to the RCB openers but Kohli and Du Plessis decided to target the other bowlers. Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan were expensive at the start, before Boult dismissed the RCB skipper. Kohli seemed to be in good nick and started to take the attack to the RR bowlers.

However, things changed when Yuzvendra Chahal came on to dismiss Kohli and become the leading wicket-taker for RR. Cameron Green and Rajat Patidar steadied things for a bit but Ashwin and the Royals bowlers kept things under control. Ashwin would dismiss Green and Glenn Maxwell off consecutive deliveries as RCB lost their way. Patidar continued to go on with his aggressive intent but Avesh finally got his man.

He had thought he got the wicket of Dinesh Karthik off his first ball, but a big blunder from the third umpire saw him survive. But Karthik couldn’t make the necessary impact as he scored just 11 off 13 as Mahipal Lomror cut loose at the other end.

Lomror departed for 32, which ended the hopes of RCB getting to a big total in the end. The Bengaluru outfit reached 172 in their 20 overs.

The RR chase was off to a slow start as they could only score 6 in the first 2 overs. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tom Kohler-Cadmore would then cut loose and started to score boundaries at free will. Jaiswal was the aggressor in the partnership. Kohler-Cadmore’s stay was ended by Lockie Ferguson as Jaiswal continued to score freely.

The Indian opener would lose steam and the heat in Ahmedabad got to him in the end as he seemed to be drained and got out trying to play a ramp shot. Captain Sanju Samson also seemingly threw away his wicket as he was stumped off Karn Sharma’s bowling.

Virat Kohli then produced a fantastic run-out as RR lost Dhruv Jurel with the situation becoming tighter. There were some nerves still in the Royals chase, but Hetmyer started to have some luck go his way. Parag would also hit a six off Green’s over.

Hetmyer and Parag’s partnership would come to an end, but by that time the equation was in favour of RR. But Hetmyer’s wicket would change things again. But Rovman Powell stepped up with two boundaries off Ferguson’s final over to reduce the equation to just 5 needed. He would finish the game off with a six as RR would make it through in the end.

RR stars find form at the right time
For RR, they last won a game way back on April 27. Since then, they have lost 4 matches on the trot and their game with KKR was washed out. The main issue was their star players like Boult, Ashwin, Avesh kind of tapering off. But when the pressure was high, these names stepped up. Boult conceded just 16 runs in his 4 overs, while Ashwin got 2 wickets and gave away just 19. Yashasvi, who has had an indifferent season, got a very important 45 off 30 balls to help them get momentum in their chase.

The chase was ultimately finished by their starboy Parag and the returning Hetmyer. Now, they will hope the momentum will be with these stars when they head to Chennai to face SRH in Qualifier 2 on May 24.

RCB’s dream run ends
This run by RCB was the stuff of legends. They were dead and buried after 7 matches and no one gave them any chance of making it to the qualifiers. RCB would silence all the doubters with their 6-match winning run that saw them dump CSK out of the tournament.

All the players stepped up to support their main star Kohli and they reached the playoffs. However, there were some issues that raised its head during the game against RR. Glenn Maxwell’s poor form and the inconsistency in the batting came back to haunt them. The bowlers were tight but missed some magic in the end.

RCB can be proud of their run and they will have some big calls to make ahead of the upcoming mega auction.