On this day in 2016 - RCB beat Gujarat Lions to qualify for the IPL final

Royal Challengers Bangalore had reversed their fortunes incredibly in the second half of the 2016 season. The last seven games had witnessed only one defeat, and the last four league games had all resulted in victories. The team was riding high on form and confidence, with each department peaking at the right time in the tournament. The team had finished second on the league table, and were now to face the table-toppers Gujarat Lions in the first qualifier for a place in the final. Serendipitously for RCB, the venue for the first qualifier was the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

With two overseas right-handed batsmen opening the batting for Gujarat Lions, RCB skipper Virat Kohli brought on the left arm spin of Iqbal Abdulla in the second over of the game, and the move worked wonders. Brendon McCullum tried to lift a flighted ball over covers, but only managed to find AB  De Villiers who sprinted around from long-off to give Abdulla a wicket off his very first ball. Three balls later, Aaron Finch edged one to Chris Gayle, and the tactic of bowling spin had been well justified. The short ball trick against Suresh Raina worked, as Shane Watson bounced him out. At this stage, RCB were all over their opponents, as the Gujarat Lions were tottering at 10/3 after four overs.

Gujarat Lions, however, had experience in their middle order in the form of veteran Dinesh Karthik and the Caribbean all-rounder Dwayne Smith. The two batsmen needed to halt the procession of wickets, and they did just that. Despite the run rate taking a hit, the two batsmen milked the RCB bowling without risking their wickets. With nine overs bowled, and the score on 42, Dwayne Smith decided to open his arms. At the receiving end was Yuzvendra Chahal, his over going for 16 runs, which included a six and two fours. Dwayne Smith had begun to look ominous now, as he brought up his half century with a slog sweep which cleared long-on off Iqbal Abdulla. 

The partnership was finally broken in the  14th over when Dinesh Karthik looked to play a lap-sweep, but only managed to guide the ball onto his stumps, giving Chris Jordon his first wicket for the day. However, the 85-run stand had taken Gujarat Lions to a respectable position with 37 balls left in the innings. With Dwayne Smith still at the crease and looking like he could clear the boundary at will, RCB could not rest just yet. With four overs left in the innings, Kohli brought on Chahal, and the decision seemed to have backfired when Smith deposited a slog-sweep over mid-wicket for a six. But, Chahal brought all his experience of bowling to big-hitters at the Chinnaswamy into play, and bowled the next delivery wide and well away from Smith’s hitting arc, found turn and Smith looking to hit another one out of the park, holed out to Kohli at long-on.

With only three overs left, Gujarat had little to lose, and kept going after the RCB bowling. Eklavya Dwivedi played a brilliant cameo of 19 from 9 balls, smashing Shane Watson for back-to-back sixers before Watson got him to hit one straight to long-on. Despite a flurry of wickets towards the end, Gujarat Lions had scored 37 runs in the last three overs, and set a target of 159 for Bangalore for a place in the final.

RCB could not have envisaged a worse start than the one they got. Virat Kohli, in the midst of a purplest of patches, dragged an innocuous, short and wide delivery back onto his stumps for a duck. Dhawal Kulkarni proved menacing, as he also got the wickets of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul off successive deliveries in his following over. Shane Watson top edged a sweep off Ravindra Jadeja, and Dwayne Smith took a dolly to complete the dismissal. When Sachin Baby hit one uppishly to covers, and Shadab Jakati held onto a simple catch, giving Kulkarni his fourth wicket, RCB were in deep trouble at 29/5.

De Villiers and Iqbal Abdulla performed a Houdini act, as the 91-run partnership for the 7th wicket guided RCB to the final

AB de Villiers had endured the procession of wickets from the other end with little control over the proceedings. He found an able ally in Stuart Binny, as the duo set out to rescue the innings. Binny slowly started to gain confidence, which reflected in his batting when in the ninth over, he successfully ruffled Jakati’s feathers with two boundaries and a six. Just when the innings was gathering steam, Stuart Binny was adjudged leg-before for 21, and RCB were back to square one with the score on 68/6, still requiring 91 to win. 

RCB needed to hang on somehow, fight out and take the game as deep as possible to give themselves a chance. With AB de Villiers still breathing, the pressure would be on the Gujarat bowlers if he was still at the crease at the death. Iqbal Abdulla came out to bat with exactly those instructions. He played his part to perfection in a partnership which slowly but surely pulled the RCB innings out of the woods. The required rate was not going to be an issue with De Villiers still at the crease. The Protean genius took calculated risks, keeping in mind the looming rains and the Duckworth-Lewis par score, and targeted the part-time seam bowling of Dwayne Smith and the left-arm spin of Shadab Jakati, who had to fulfil the fifth bowler’s quota of four overs. The 15th and the 16th over bowled by the two bowlers, saw the score leap by a massive 30 runs, and RCB had clawed their way back into the game. By now, de Villiers was well set, and was pulling out all the tricks in his hat which had earned him the name Mr.360. A sweep over square-leg and a reverse sweep through the off-side field off deliveries on a similar line left Praveen Kumar and the Gujarat skipper Suresh Raina scratching their heads. 

AB de Villiers’ effortless hitting had reduced the runs needed to 21 from the last three. Iqbal Abdulla looked in little trouble against an insipid Gujarat bowling. Dwayne Bravo, the death overs specialist for the Lions, was taken for a hattrick of boundaries to end the 18th over, and RCB were almost home. Iqbal Abdulla flicked one through the on-side and De Villiers raced back for a brace and RCB had snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat. The partnership of 91 runs between Abdulla and de Villiers had pulled a rabbit out of the hat, and the home crowd at the Chinnaswamy had seen their team seal a place in the final of the 2016 season. De Villiers remained unbeaten on 79 off only 47 balls.