Expresso IPL 2024 News Update at 4:30 pm on 20 May 2024

With the match between KKR and RR being washed out, we now know who will play who in the playoffs with first-placed Kolkata Knight Riders taking on Sunrisers in the first Qualifier at the Narendra Modi Stadium on May 21 while the 4th placed Royal Challengers Bengaluru will take on Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator on May 22 in the same venue. Despite their consistent losses, RCB made the qualification possible through their superior Net Run Rate (NRR) – the tiebreaker in case of equal points and wins for the four teams. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had to ensure a defeat by no more than 17 runs. Chasing a 219-run target, CSK finished on 191 for seven.

Meanwhile. IPL played out differently in the home of Yash Dayal at Prayagraj. Since last year, the family had been wary of tuning into IPL’s high-pressure matches involving their son, the 26-year-old RCB pacer who mostly gets to bowl the all-important final over. That seemingly changed on Saturday, when RCB made a grand comeback by clinching a seat in the playoffs. Speaking to The Indian Express, Yash's father Chandarpal can now afford to laugh as he recalls those tense moments: "I blamed myself for ruining another match for my son. Dhoni can still tear apart any bowler...It felt good the way he held his nerve after the first ball. I enjoyed the winning moment."

Soon after RCB’s victory, Bengaluru residents came out on the streets and celebrated the moment. In a now-viral video shared by the official handle of RCB on X, residents can be seen blocking the roads, burning crackers and dancing on the streets. The two-minute-long video opens with Bengaluru cops managing the crowd as fans continue to cheer for the team and wave RCB’s flags. In a post on X on May 18 RCB said: “This was at 1:30 am tonight… This is what makes it all the more special. We have the best fans in the world and we’re so proud of it.” The video garnered over 7,21,000 views and several reactions on X.

After the match at Chinnaswamy Stadium on May 18, ecstatic RCB players began celebrating their victory. Visuals from the ground appeared to indicate that RCB players were so engrossed in celebrating their win, that they may have missed out on a few formalities. This irked analysts like former England captain Michael Vaughan and Harsha Bhogle. Both felt that RCB players should have first shook hands with CSK players, especially Dhoni, since there is uncertainty about whether Dhoni will play in the IPL again after this. Michael told Cricbuzz: " We don’t know but if that was MS Dhoni’s last game and those players have run around the ground doing handstands when all they need is to wait and meet the legend."

Moving on. Former Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma has lashed out at broadcasters Star Sports for airing his conversations for “views and engagement” despite him requesting them not to. The angry India captain posted his comments on Twitter on Sunday afternoon. In a post on X he wrote: "Despite asking Star Sports to not record my conversation, it was and was also then played on air, which is a breach of privacy."
Over to the purple cap race. Harshal Patel snapped up a couple of wickets against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday, May 19 and extended his lead over Jasprit Bumrah in the Purple Cap race. The 2022 Purple Cap winner is now the holder of the Cap with 24 scalps in 14 matches. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians seamer Bumrah is second in the charts with 20 wickets to his name. Bumrah’s economy is superior to the Punjab Kings bowler, helping him to the top of the standings. As is with the IPL every year, viewers anticipate who will emerge as the highest wicket-taker thereby awarding them the purple cap. In 2023, Gujarat Titans’ Mohammed Shami won the Purple Cap.

Lastly: RCB veteran Dinesh Karthik believes that Mahendra Singh Dhoni had a role to play in RCB securing playoffs spot. Speaking to his teammates in a fun debrief, Dinesh said: “The best thing to happen today was Dhoni hitting that six outside the ground." Dinesh is referring to the Dhoni hitting the first ball of Yash Dayal’s 20th over for a massive 110m six during the match the two sides played on Saturday, May 18. CSK needed to get just 17 runs off the last over, which was bowled by Dayal. If they had managed to get 17 runs in the final over, CSK would have made it to the Playoffs even with a loss to RCB.