Rajasthan Royals 174 for 6 (Jaiswal 45, Parag 36, Siraj 2-33) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 172 for 8 (Patidar 34, Kohli 33, Lomror 32, Avesh 3-44, Ashwin 2-19) by four wickets

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) came into the IPL 2024 Eliminator with six successive wins behind them, and Rajasthan Royals (RR) with five successive winless games. But there really is no such thing as momentum in sport, and certainly not in a sport as fickle as T20.

Royals won an important toss, and their bowlers delivered a superb performance to restrict RCB to 172 at a venue where dew makes chasing significantly easier than setting targets.

It was a game of two halves, as RR got over the line with an over to spare despite a number of nervy moments in their chase.

It was also a game of two ends. One square boundary in Ahmedabad was significantly longer than the other, and the RR bowlers used this asymmetry brilliantly. RCB scored 51 for 6 in their odd-numbered overs, when the longer boundary was to the leg side for the right-hand batter, and 121 for 2 from the other end.

The imbalance existed even when RR batted: 111 for 1 in ten overs from one end, and 63 for 5 in nine overs from the other. It helped RR that they had right-left pairs occupying the crease for longer than RCB did, but not to a massive extent.

RR are now through to Qualifier 2 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Chennai on Friday. For RCB, this is another trophyless season but one that will be remembered fondly for many years to come.

Trent Boult vs RCB

The game of two ends began early. Boult swung the new ball in an opening spell of three overs, and was inch-perfect with his lines and lengths: no room for the batters to free their arms, and no slot balls or long-hops. He conceded just six runs and two leg-byes in those three overs, and had du Plessis caught at deep midwicket to end an opening stand of 37.

Chahal gets Kohli, Ashwin applies the squeeze

Boult gave way to Ashwin from the end with the long leg-side boundary (for the right-hand batter), and that end continued to be hard to score off. Ashwin bowled beautifully, bowling at high pace, either into the pitch or right up at the batters' feet, offering no room, and primarily using his carrom and reverse-carrom variations against RCB's right-hand batters.

Kohli's slog-sweep has been one of the stories of IPL 2024. The shot, brought out of cold storage after many years, has allowed Kohli to overturn a long-standing issue of slow scoring against spin, and given him an extra gear through the middle overs. On this day, though, he was out to his first slog-sweep, caught on the midwicket boundary.

Ashwin, Avesh keep RCB in check

But Ashwin didn't let RR worry about that miss for too long, inducing a mis-hit from Cameron Green in the 13th over, his fourth, and following up with the dismissal of Glenn Maxwell, who ended a lean season with the bat by attempting to hit his first ball for six and picking out long-on.

Chahal bowled another expensive over, conceding 19 in the 14th, and when Patidar hooked Avesh for six at the start of the 15th - it was RCB's first boundary in an odd-numbered over - it looked as though a 190-ish total was possible. But Avesh got a shortish delivery to get big on Patidar next ball, and caused him to miscue to a backtracking mid-off fielder.

Royals stutter but complete the job

Green came on in the tenth over and began to make a serious impact with his hard lengths, conceding just 11 runs in three overs while having Jaiswal caught behind while attempting a scoop. He also helped run Jurel out, fumbling a brilliant, one-bounce throw from Kohli in the deep but somehow managing to break the wicket with the ball still in contact with his hands.

At the other end, RR lost Samson, leaving his crease too early to be stumped off a deliberate off-side wide from Karn Sharma. At the end of the 14th over, Royals were four down and needed 58 off 36.