On social media, the Chennai Super Kings star mocked RCB for their continuous failure to win the IPL crown, but later erased the narrative he wrote.
On Wednesday, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 6-match winning streak came to an end in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Eliminator versus Rajasthan Royals. RCB established a fighting total of 172/8 on the board and even managed to unsettle Rajasthan Royals batters to some extent, but the score was never going to be enough for Faf du Plessis and co. to advance. As RCB missed out on another chance to advance in the league after losing to RR in the Eliminator, Chennai Super Kings star Tushar Deshpande posted an Instagram story insulting the Bengaluru team. I later erased it, though.
Deshpande, a CSK pacer, posted a story on Instagram with the caption “CSK fans are built different” and a photo of the ‘Bengaluru Cant’ railway station. Deshpande erased the post after seeing the outrage it had generated.
Riyan Parag (36 off 26), as he has done multiple times this season, shown remarkable determination in a difficult situation to help Rajasthan stay in the competition. It was the Royals’ first victory following four losses and an abandoned game.
The 2008 winners, the Royals, will meet Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on Friday for a spot in the IPL Final.
Shimron Hetmyer, who returned, also performed admirably, scoring a crucial 26 off 14 balls.
In a match where fortunes shifted from one side to the other, RR remained ahead with impacting performances throughout, even though Mohammed Siraj (2/33) raised late hopes for RCB with wickets of Parag and Hetmyer in the 18th over. With 13 needed from the final two overs, Powell hit two fours against Lockie Ferguson to seal the victory for his team.
Previously, it was Yashasvi Jaiswal (45 off 30) who provided them a boost at the top.
After an unimpressive start with his opening runs falling off the outside edge, Jaiswal gained confidence when Yash Dayal fed him a few deliveries to capitalise on, and the RR opener smacked four fours in the third over to break the deadlock.
In contrast, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (20) smashed two fours against Siraj and was given a lifeline by Glenn Maxwell, who let Dayal off a sitter at deep square leg.
Lockie Ferguson gave RCB their first breakthrough when he foxed Kohler-Cadmore with a slow yorker that crashed into the stumps. RR’s acceleration was gradually cutting runs off the objective.
After Jaiswal’s innings took some time to settle into a groove, the intense heat finally got the best of him after just 29 balls were faced.
Between the ninth and tenth overs, Jaiswal received on-field treatment and returned to play a loose shot — an attempted ramp off Cameron Green that was gloved by the keeper.
Soon after, Karn Sharma delivered a body blow by stumping Sanju Samson (17).
With their tails up, RCB continued to make inroads, with Dhruv Jurel (8) being run out following a great performance by Virat Kohli and Cameron Green. Kohli delivered a precise throw from deep midwicket to the non-striker’s end, finding Jurel short of his crease.
When RR decided to go after Green in the fifteenth over, they were clearly under pressure as he had been destroying them with three clean overs and a wicket up until that point.
Hetmyer struck the Australian for a six, and Parag added another to his partner’s ton of runs, which came to 17.
