AB de Villiers and Mandeep Singh starred in Royal Challenger Bangalore’s 71-run win over Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator to book a Qualifier date with Chennai Super Kings on May 22.
Virat Kohli decided to bat first on a tricky Pune pitch and he and his biggest star, Chris Gayle, got out cheaply. At 46/2, RCB were staring down the barrel.
But ABD (66 off 38) and Mandeep (34-ball 54*) got them to 180/4 on a seaming track. Rajasthan had their work cut-out because chasing at 9 runs per over is very, very tough in a match of this intensity.
But what was surprising was how easily RR batsmen gave up on the run-chase as they played 19 overs only to score 109.
All images courtesy: IPLT20.COM