RCB vs RR

With this win, Royal Challengers Bengaluru now move up to the third rank on the points table. In terms of points, they are at level with the two teams above them. Though, Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans have both played a game less. Rajasthan Royals stay at the 8th spot with 4 points to their name. Both the teams below them — Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad — have the same. Tomorrow one of them will leapfrog the Royals following their clash at Chennai. Remember, mathematically, no team is out of the race to playoffs yet. 

Do join us at 6:30 PM IST for that encounter. For now, it is the commentary duo of Bidipto Datta and Darpan Tikiya signing off. Sayonara!

Josh Hazlewood is the Player of the Match. He says, "(On the 19th over) It was about sticking to my strengths. I knew the wicket was tough. It was just about mixing my lengths. A range of people get the credit for my rise in T20. Playing more T20s has helped. Earlier, I did not play as much with Test cricket getting the preference. My time with CSK and playing T20s for Australia has helped."

Rajat Patidar (Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain): "It was a much needed win. Today the wicket was different, as we expected. The credit goes to the bowlers. The courage they showed after the first 10 overs. Credit goes to RR, for the way they batted. But we knew that getting wickets was the only way to stop them. I always back my instincts. But we have quite a few experienced leaders in the group. Their inputs are really helping me."

11:40 PM IST | Hang around for the post match presentation. We will bring you the quotes from the winning skipper and the Player of the Match. Till then, feel free to scroll below Riyan Parag's quote and read through the summary of the match.

Virat Kohli (70 runs off 42 balls in the 1st innings): "We've had three pretty average games at home, but today we applied ourselves to put that total on the board. It wasn't all that easy batting out there. But dew did help things in the second half. However, they batted really well, but we held out nerves and got the job done. First thing is that we need to win the toss! But, we have a simple template. I know this pitch very well, so does Devdutt (Padikkal). We kept it going and let it build. There's pace and bounce on offer in the first three-four overs, but today, we didn't rush things. We kept the things going in a straightforward fashion and it worked. 205 turns out to be a winning total, but that's the tricky thing! But, now, since we've got the runs, we can hopefully get 15-20 more runs too going forward. This is a special place to play an IPL game, and we love it giving these fans a win in front of them!" 

Riyan Parag (Rajasthan Royals captain): "I think we did really well with the ball. I thought that it was a 210 to 215 wickets. But, I think we have ourselves to blame. We could have executed the batting better, especially against spin. The management has given us a lot of freedom, but we just haven't done it as a batting unit. We speak a lot in groups, we did know what to do, but, after being in the driver's seat, we let it slip. We've got to play for pride now. There are so many supporters, there are so many people who make things happen for us, so, we've got to play for them and make it happen." 

11:26 PM IST | Royal Challengers Bengaluru win by 11 runs.

Virat Kohli 70 (42) | Josh Hazlewood 4/33 (4)
Yashasvi Jaiswal 49 (19) | Sandeep Sharma 2/45 (4)

The air crackles with boisterous chants of "RCB, RCB!".  We won't be surprised if they are heard miles away from the stadium too — they are that loud. And let's be honest we did not expect anything different. The fans in Bengaluru have waited a while for this. But finally, their team has broken the home ground hoodoo. RCB register their first win at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium this year and Rajasthan Royals bottle yet another run chase.

First things first, it did not appear to be an easy pitch to bat on. Whenever the fast bowlers banged the ball in, it flew off the deck like a tennis ball off trampoline. The odd ball held up in the wicket too. In fact, RCB's batting coach Dinesh Karthik mentioned in a sideline interview that it wasn't exactly "a 200-pitch". Yet, somehow, we saw nearly 400 runs scored on it.

For RCB, Virat Kohli, who scored his first fifty at home this season tonight, led the way. The start was a bit streaky with his first couple of boundaries coming off the edge of the bat. But he soon adjusted to the pace of the pitch and unleashed some delectable shots. Post the powerplay, he switched to vintage Kohli mode, expertly putting the ball in empty pockets and hustling effervescently between the wickets for runs. At the other end, he had the support of Devdutt Padikkal, who continued to make the most of his good form. The southpaw exuded confidence with every stroke that he played and made robust connections almost every time he swung the bat. The 95 run partnership between those two set the launchpad. Then, the duo of Jitesh Sharma (20* off 10 balls) and Tim David (23 off 15 balls) provided the final flourish, propelling them past 200.

But the Royals fought fire with fire. Yashasvi Jaiswal made his intentions clear from offset as he swatted the first ball of the innings disdainfully over the leg side boundary for a maximum. The same bold intent and fierce ball-striking was on display for the entirety of his 19-ball-49. More than half of the deliveries his faced were slammed to the fence. And his intentions off the remaining ones were not any different. Several batters in the middle order too got starts, but none were able to convert it into a score of substance. Dhruv Jurel (47 off 34 balls) did well though. His start was watchful and he did consume a number of dot balls too. But soon, he unfurled some clean strikes that tipped the scale into the favor of the visiting side. Him and Shubham Dubey smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 22 runs in the 18th over.

But Josh Hazlewood pulled things back in the 19th, giving away only a run and picking up two wickets including that of Dhruv Jurel. He finished with excellent figures of 4/33. Special mention to spinners Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma. Their tight bowling through the middle overs was crucial in bringing this game back to parity after Rajasthan's galloping start.

19.6 Yash Dayal to Fazalhaq Farooqi, RCB WIN THEIR FIRST GAME AT HOME! Back of a length on off-stump. A bit of a flat-batted slap over the in-field and down to long-off for a single only. The home fans go crazy over their favourite team's win in front of them! 

19.5 Yash Dayal to Tushar Deshpande, attempted yorker on off-stump. Dinked down to the left of the keeper off the cue end of the bat. One more. 

The crowd erupts once again as they realize that the equation is now out of the realm of possibility. Just don't bowl a wide or no-ball now Yash.