After a thrilling one-field battle where Royal Challengers Bengaluru prevailed in the last-over finish to script a 27-run win against defending champions Chennai Super Kings to continue their fairytale ride into the playoffs, fans witnessed another RCB vs CSK clash live on-air in the post-match show where veteran cricketers Varun Aaron and Ambati Rayudu engaged in a bit of a banter.
A stunning batting performance from Virat Kohli, captain Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar saw RCB set up a massive total of 219 against CSK. Given that Chennai held a superior net run rate at the time of the match, calculations revealed that the hosts had to restrict the visitors to 201 runs to win the match and make the playoffs.
After a horrid start of losing two wickets in 14 balls for 19 runs, Chennai revived under the efforts of Ajinkya Rahane, Rachin Ravindra and Ravindra Jadeja. RCB did remain in the contest with regular wickets, but on MS Dhoni’s arrival, the game looked to slip away towards the fag end before Yash Dayal held his nerves to deny the former captain a magical moment in the final over as he defended 17 runs to help RCB win.
The scintillating win as part of RCB’s stellar comeback from the bottom of the points table to making the playoffs sparked a wild celebrations from the fans, which subsequently led to Rayudu, a former CSK player, take a cheeky dig at the franchise. Speaking live on Star Sports, he reckoned that given how RCB fans have been celebrating the win, it seemed they have already won the trophy. He added that CSK should in fact give one of their five trophies to them so that they can parade on the streets celebrating just the win at Chinnaswamy on Saturday.
“RCB have already won the IPL. We saw what was the reaction in the streets of Bengaluru, in fact CSK should give one of their trophies to RCB so they can parade it,” he said.
In response to the dig, Aaron, a former RCB fast bowler, came up with a savage reply. He said: “He’s just not able to digest the fact that RCB knocked out CSK.”
RCB will next face 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in the Eliminator on Wednesday. Bengaluru are currently on a six-match winning streak, having not lost a match since April 25, while Rajasthan, who at once point were the table toppers and were tipped to finish among the top two, lost four matches in a row to remain winless in May.
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