RCB vs CSK Highlights IPL 2024: Royal Challengers Bengaluru wins by 27 runs, qualifies for playoffs; Chennai eliminated

So, that’s it then! We have our final top-four after 68 matches. Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and now Royal Challengers Bengaluru have qualified for the playoffs. This has been nothing short of a miracle for RCB, which has now won its sixth game in a row to make it to the last-four stage. 

CSK needs 17 off 6 balls. SIX! Full toss and Dhoni swings this for a maximum over fine-leg for half a dozen. OUT! And Dhoni goes. Slower one and caught at the boundary. Shardul Thakur is the new man in. Slower one and Thakur can make no connection. CSK needs 11 to win from 3 balls. Thakur swings and only gets an outside edge to short third for a single. CSK needs 10 off 2 balls. Jadeja on strike. Slower one outside off and Jadeja swings and misses. CSK needs 10 off 1. Slower one again and Jadeja misses again. 

RCB wins by 27 runs and qualifies for the playoffs. Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings is eliminated! 

Another no-ball for a full toss over the waist by Ferguson. His second one for today. The free-hit is heaved away by Dhoni for a single to deep midwicket. FOUR! Shortish on leg-stump and flicked away to the fine-leg boundary by Jadeja. Just a single on this occasion. CSK needs 28 from 9 for qualification now. FOUR! That’s smashed away to the cover boundary by Dhoni for a boundary. Swung away by Dhoni for a single on leg-side. CSK needs 23 from 7 now. SIX! Pulled away by Jadeja for a maximum and that leaves CSK with 17 to get off the last over. 

CSK needs 50 off 18 balls to qualify. SIX! Jadeja clears the long-off boundary as Siraj darts it in full on off-stump. Bouncer and swatted away by Jadeja for a single. Overthrow and CSK will steal another one. Full outside off and Jadeja gets a bottom edge on this. Dot ball. 42 needed off 15 for qualification now. Short and wide and Jadeja slashes this to the boundary at backward point. Pulled away by Jadeja for a single at deep midwicket. Bouncer and called wide for height. Sliced to point by Dhoni for a single to end the over. 

Dayal is back. CSK needs 63 off 24 balls for qualification. SIX! In the slot outside off and Jadeja launches this over long-off for a maximum. Beaten! Full but closer to off-stump and Jadeja misses trying to drive this. Low full toss and flicked away for a single by Jadeja. FOUR! Full toss on the pads and flicked away to the boundary behind him by Dhoni. Slower one and dabbed to short third by Dhoni for a single. That’s 150 up for CSK. Slapped to deep point by Jadeja for a single to end the over. 

Green with the ball again. Dhoni defends this back to the bowler. He flicks this away with his wrists to fine-leg for a couple of runs. Clipped off the pads for one more by Dhoni. Pulled away for a single by Jadeja to square-leg. FOUR! Short and drifting down leg-side, Dhoni pulls that away to the boundary. Strategic Timeout! 

Siraj returns. Carved to point by Santner for a single. Turned away aerially by Jadeja through midwicket for one more. Driven over the bowler’s head by Santner for another single. Good bouncer and Jadeja lets it go, or rather has no time to react as it zips off the surface. Jadeja steps out next ball and slaps this over backward point for a single. OUT! Du Plessis with a stunnner and Santner has to go. The skipper plucks this from thin air after back-pedalling at mid-off. 

Mitchell Santner c Faf du Plessis b Mohammed Siraj 3 (4b)

Green into the attack now. Ravindra Jadeja is the new batter in. Outside edge off Jadeja’s blade and this just falls short of Karthik behind the stumps. 

OUT! Dube is caught on the deep midwicket boundary and that’s a huge blow for CSK. In next is Mitchell Santner. Wide down leg-side by Green. FOUR! Driven away by Jadeja and he beats the mid-off fielder to find the boundary. 

Shivam Dube c Lockie Ferguson b Cameron Green 7 (15b)

Maxwell bowls out. Half-tracker, and Ravindra misses out on this. Chipped high in the air but in the vacant cover region by Ravindra for a single. DROPPED! Siraj has spilt this chance, and Dube gets a reprieve on 4. OUT! Ravindra is run out going for a second and is that the game? 

Rachin Ravindra run out (Mahipal Lomror/Dinesh Karthik) 61 (37b 5x4 3x6)

Ferguson again. FOUR! No-ball for a full toss over the waist and that’s also put away to the boundary by Ravindra. Faf du Plessis is asking the umpire to change the ball, but the umpire isn’t having any of it. Free-hit! SIX! Full toss and that’s put away by Ravindra for a maximum and over the boundary. That’s a fifty for Ravindra off 31 balls. SIX! This is a perfectly executed uppercut by Ravindra for a maximum over third man. Nineteen runs from the over and CSK finally injects some momentum in this chase. 

Maxwell into his third over. Pulled away by Ravindra through midwicket for a single. Maxwell gets the ball to grip on this occasion and beats Dube. Tucked away off the waist for one more by Dube next ball. Ravindra looks to give himself room outside off but can only lift this to long-off for a single. Dube is beaten again by Maxwell. Turning into him and flicked for a single by Dube to end the over. 

Here comes Lockie Ferguson into the attack. OUT! Rahane goes and Ferguson strikes first-ball. Slower one and Rahane has launched this high into the sky and Du Plessis makes no mistake. 

In comes Shivam Dube as the Impact Player. Driven on the up and that was in the air for a while, close to Kohli at short cover. Defended on the off-side now by Dube. Bouncer and Dube doesn’t really have a measure of this. Slower one and cut away by Dube for a single and he is finally off the mark. Full one to end the over and Ravindra flicks it away for a single. 

Ajinkya Rahane c Faf du Plessis b Lockie Ferguson 33 (22b 3x4 1x6)

Swapnil continues. Tosses this wide outside off to Ravindra and the batter can only get a bottom edge back to the bowler. This one is too wide outside off and one extra run. Width and cut away for a couple by Ravindra. Tucked away by Ravindra for one more. Turned away on the leg-side for another single by Rahane. Wide outside off again to Ravindra and driven to deep cover for one more. Full toss to end the over and Rahane whips it away on leg-side for a single. 

Karn Sharma into the attack. Short and Rahane rocks back and pulls this away for a single. SIX! In the wheelhouse for Ravindra and he slog-sweeps this over midwicket for a big maximum. This is flicked to deep midwicket for one more. Pushed to long-on by Rahane for another single. FOUR! Lifted over cover gracefully by Rahane and that’s a one-bounce four to end the over. 

Swapnil Singh comes into the attack. Ravindra chips this over the bowler for a single. This is guided to point by Rahane for one more. Good turn for Swapnil and cut away by Ravindra for another single. Flicked through midwicket for a fourth single this over by Rahane. Punched down the ground to long-off for a single by Ravindra. Six singles and that’s a fantastic over by Swapnil. 

FOUR! Outside edge off the bat of Ravindra and that runs away to the boundary as Dayal comes on for his second over. Scythed to deep point for a single by Ravindra. 

FOUR! Rahane hammers this across the line and beats the mid-wicket fielder to find the boundary. That’s 50 for CSK in 5.3 overs. FOUR! This is delicately cut away by Rahane for another boundary as Dayal offers width outside off. Flicked off the pads to deep square-leg for a single. Dabbed to deep backward point by Ravindra for one more to end the over. 

Maxwell comes on again. Turns it sharply into Rahane first ball. This is heaved away to deep square-leg by Rahane for a single as he doesn’t get any timing on this. This is pace on from Maxwell and Ravindra gets a bit of an inside edge as he looks to play this across the line. Just four singles from the over. 

Full and straight from Siraj and flicked away by Rahane for a single. FOUR! A bit of width and cut away with quick hands by Ravindra to the point boundary. This is a well-timed drive by Ravindra but straight to the mid-off fielder again. Cut away again by Ravindra but Green does well to stop this at cover-point. 

FOUR! Bouncer and that’s given as a boundary off the bat. But didn’t really look like Rahane made any contact with that. Umpire changes it to four-byes now. Full toss to Rahane and he flicks this away for three runs on leg-side. 

Here comes Yash Dayal. Mitchell pushes this to mid-off for a dot ball. OUT! Mitchell is gone, caught at mid-off, and Kohli takes the catch. 

In comes Ajinkya Rahane and dabs the first ball to short third. SIX! Rahane picks this up from his waist and flicks this over fine-leg for a maximum. Short of a length and tapped on the off-side by Rahane for a quick single. 

Daryl Mitchell c Virat Kohli b Yash Dayal 4 (6b)

Siraj from the other end. Keeps it on the fuller side of the pitch. Just three singles off the first three balls. FOUR! This is sliced through cover by Ravindra for a boundary. This is pushed convincingly but straight to the mid-off fielder by Ravindra. Pushed again to mid-off for a dot to end the over. 

The RCB team is in a huddle. Can they defend 201 runs? We will find out shortly. 

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra will open the innings for CSK. Swapnil Singh comes in as Impact Player for Rajat Patidar. 

Maxwell to bowl with the new ball. OUT! Gaikwad is gone first ball. A nothing long-hop and the skipper has pulled this straight to short fine-leg. 

FIVE-WIDES! Plenty of turn and this goes down leg-side for five wides, past the new batter Daryl Mitchell. Outside edge for Ravindra to the short third-man fielder. 

Ravindra is off the mark with a single through midwicket as the ball grips into the surface. Flicked on leg-side by Mitchell for one more. 

FOUR! Cut away hard by Ravindra to the boundary and Maxwell is not happy with that delivery. 

Ruturaj Gaikwad c Yash Dayal b Glenn Maxwell 0 (1b)

CSK’s requirement for a playoff spot is simple. Either win the game or score at least 201. 

Low full toss from Shardul first ball. Just a single though. Another low full toss. Turned to the leg side for a couple of runs. Low full toss again. Maxwell times it to perfection. SIX OVER LONG ON!!! Full toss again and Maxwell creams it for a four. 

Finally, Shardul gets his length right. Edged and Dhoni completes a blinder. 

Glenn Maxwell c †Dhoni b Thakur 16 (5b 2x4 1x6)

Deshpande with the penultimate over of the innings. Tries to stick to a wide line to keep it away from the batter. But gives away a couple of wides in process. Karthik anticipates the line and jumps across the stumps before swiping it over mid wicket for a four. Karthik brings out the reverse ramp now. Flies past Dhoni and runs away for a four. Deshpande goes wide and this time Karthik gets only an edge. Easy catch for Dhoni. ‘

Dinesh Karthik c †Dhoni b Deshpande 14 (6b 1x4 1x6)

RCB 205/4 in 19 overs

Full toss from Shardul Thakur to start the over. Too easy for Green. Clattered away for a six. Shardul Thakur overcompensates next ball. Short, but not short enough. Thumped away for another six. 

Low full toss from Shardul now. Patidar can’t middle this one. Good catch by Mitchell at long on. 

Rajat Patidar c Mitchell b Thakur 41 (23b 2x4 4x6)

RCB 187/3 in 18 overs

Another six!! Not perfect timing from Patidar. But he still manages to clear long on against Deshpande. Couple of singles follow. Deshpande gifts RCB with an extra run with a wide. Last ball of the over, Deshpande sways into Patidar’s swinging arc. BOOM!! SIX MORE!!

Shardul Thakur returns. Patidar gets a four off the first ball of the over. Patidar tries to go for a paddle sweep next. Misses completely and hits bang on the pad. CSK burns a review on that. Overpitched from Shardul and Green manages to crack it over long on for a six. Another fuller one. This time Green doesn’t nail it. Straight to Gaikwad at long off. SPILLED!!! AND RUNS AWAY FOR A FOUR!!

Theekshana starts with a dot ball against Green, who taps the next one down the ground for a single. Patidar returns the strike next ball. Full from Theekshana and Green goes bang. Four straight down the ground. 

Simarjeet gets his first over of the day. Single from new-batter Green to get the over going. Edge! Flies past Dhoni in a blink of an eye. Runs away for a four to deep third. Simarjeet drifts on to Patidar’s pads and it is flicked away for a six. Couple of wides down the off side now from the CSK pacer. Simarjeet sticks to the line and Green now smashes it for a four to the cover fence. 

Final over of the day for Santner. He refuses to go full, forcing RCB batters to play off the back foot. Five singles from the first five balls. Patidar slams the last ball straight back. Santner gets his hand onto it in time and Du Plessis is caught out of the crease at the non striker’s end. 

Faf du Plessis run out (Santner) 54 (39b 3x4 3x6)

Du Plessis jabs one to the leg side to take a single to get to his fifty. Length from Theekshana and Patidar whacks it over long off for his first six of the day. 10 runs off the over. 

Faf decides to go on the aggressive. Makes room on the leg side before slamming Jadeja past extra cover for a single. Fuller from Jadeja now and Faf times it straight back over the umpire for a six. Full once again. Faf goes big again. Lobs it over the off side fence for another six. 

Santner continues around the wicket. Slow and on point. All Kohli can do is tap it to the off side for a single. Faf returns the strike with a single to the leg side. Fuller one from Santner and Kohli slogs it over mid wicket. SIX!!!

Santner pushes it in again. This time it grips the surface a bit more. Mistimed and an easy catch for Mitchell at long on. 

Virat Kohli c Mitchell b Santner 47 (29b 3x4 4x6)

RCB 78/1 in 10 overs

Jadeja continues. Faf lofts it over covers for a couple of runs. A misfield from Jadeja allows Faf to add another single. Jadeja pushes it in and Kohli brings out the slog sweep. SIX!!! 10 runs from the over. 

Unplayable! Kohli doesn’t know what happened there as Santner whizzes one past his outside edge. Santner goes short and Kohli cracks it over extra cover for a four. Kohli drives one to long off for a single. 

Jadeja into the attack as CSK looks to exploit the spin-friendly conditions. Outside off from Jadeja and Kohli flays at it. Edged and runs away for a four. Kohli and Faf keep it ticking with singles. 

Theekshana cramps Faf with one that jags back in. Beaten. Theekshana goes full now. Faf smokes it for a four straight over the bowler’s head. Theekshana responds with a couple of dot balls. 

Santner’s turn to have a go. And he is into it straight away. Spins one away from Kohli. Edge and it falls just short of the fielder at short third. Kohli jabs a bounced up one for a single. Santner now goes after Faf. Two play and misses up next. Short from Santner and Faf gets it to deep mid wicket for a single. 

Kohli on strike as the game restarts. Gaikwad turns to Theekshana. Kohli ticks one to the leg side get things going again. Theekshana jams it in against Du Plessis and gains three dot balls. The last of them offered a glimpse of the bounce of the surface. 

8:25 PM restart and no overs lost. 

Covers are coming off at the Chinnaswamy. The pitch too is uncovered. We can expect a restart soon.

The rain has subsided and the ground staff are out trying to get the outfield dry. Broadcasters says if it doesn’t rain again, play could resume in 10 to 15 minutes. 

And just when RCB’s innings was gaining momentum the skies open up. 

Here we go. Kohli steps across the stumps before flicking Deshpande out of the park, beyond the square leg fence. SIX!!!! Again leg sideish delivery from Deshpande. Kohli pulls it emphatically behind square. SIX MORE!!! A single off the last ball ensures Kohli retains the strike. 

Shardul Thakur from the other end. Du Plessis goes over the top and gets off the strike. Narrowly wide from Shardul now and Kohli expertly guides it for a four behind the square on the off side. Fuller now from Shardul and Kohli drives it for a single. Another swing and a miss from Faf. Shardul pushes it full and this time Faf doesn’t miss. Crunched for a four through covers. Again full and Faf swings through the line. Six straight back. 

Kohli is off the mark straight away. Cuts one to deep third to take a single. Sharp from Deshpande to Faf. Three dot balls follow. Faf decides to take on the right-arm pacer by stepping down. Misses the outside edge by a fraction. A tapped single to close out the over. 

Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli have made it out into the middle. Tushar Deshpande with the ball for CSK. 

We would have fielded as well, but we put up a good score when we batted first last. Losing the toss isn’t ideal, but we’ll take a lot of confidence from the last 5 games. The set-up is great, last match before the knock-out stage, the scenario is nicely set-up and we’re happy to play our last league game in front of our fans. Not thinking a lot, we’ll take it as it comes and do our best. 

We’ll bowl first. The wicket looks good, conditions are overcast and we will look to make the most of the movement in the first 2-3 overs. It looks a bit damp, but we’ll go with great intent. Every game in the IPL is must win, nothing changes for us, we’ll take it ball-by-ball, try and win the small processes. We’ve won some crucial games to go ahead of the pack in the middle. Just one change - Moeen isn’t available, Santner replaces him.

Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karn Sharma, Yash Dayal, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Siraj. 

Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Daryl Mitchell, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh, Maheesh Theekshana. 

Chennai Super Kings wins the toss and elects to bowl first. Mitchell Santner replaces Moeen Ali in the playing XI, says Ruturaj Gaikwad. 

The weather has behaved so far and we are set to have the toss on time. Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad walk out to the middle for the flip of the coin. 

So, first RCB will hope the weather permits a game tonight. Then, it will need to beat CSK by at least 18 runs or 11 balls to spare. Even a win with a lower victory margin than that will not be enough for the hosts. 

The covers are reportedly removed from the main square for now as the drizzle relents. Fingers crossed! 

The news is not good for the local fans. There is a slight drizzle that has set in at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and the covers are reportedly out. 

The forecast for 6 PM IST in Bengaluru is that there is a cloud cover but just a 33 per cent chance of rain. It is currently 29 degrees Celsius. 

Bat 1st: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni (wk), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande.

Bowl 1st: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni (wk), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh.

Impact Player options: Simarjeet Singh/Shivam Dube, Mukesh Choudhary, Shaik Rasheed, Sameer Rizvi, Prashant Solanki.

Bat 1st: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar, Mahipal Lomror, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yash Dayal, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Lockie Ferguson.

Bowl 1st: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Yash Dayal, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh.

Impact Player options: Swapnil Singh/Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal, Saurav Chauhan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Suyash Prabhudessai.

WICKETKEEPER

Dinesh Karthik

BATTERS

Ruturaj Gaikwad (vc), Virat Kohli (c), Shivam Dube, Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar

ALL-ROUNDERS

Ravindra Jadeja, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell

BOWLERS

Tushar Deshpande, Yash Dayal

Team Composition: RCB 7:4 CSK Credits Left: 9.5

Matches played: 10

RCB won: 4

CSK won: 5

No result: 1

Last result: CSK won by 8 runs (April, 2023)

Matches played: 33

RCB won: 10

CSK won: 22

No result: 1

Last result: CSK won by 6 wickets (April, 2024)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan. 

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Richard Gleeson, Avanish Rao Aravelly. Players injured/withdrawn: Devon Conway, Matheesha Pathirana.