Two fours at the start of the 19th over for Powell off Ferguson, both towards the third man boundary, and neither is off the middle of the bat. Royals will take them, and who wouldn’t?
And three dot balls later, Powell finishes it off, emphatically. A full ball, up in the slot, and he drills it for a straight six and holds his pose with left elbow high. A win set up by Royals’ bowlers, who kept RCB down to a well-below-par total, considering the dew and how much of an advantage it has bestowed on the chasing team.
Boult, Ashwin and Avesh were all terrific earlier today, and Jaiswal and Parag superb in the chase. I’d give Boult the PoM if it were up to me, but let’s see how the adjudicators see it.
RCB’s dream run from the bottom of the table ends. Six wins on the bounce followed by defeat in the Eliminator. They can hold their heads up high, but on this day Royals were better than them. They’re through to Qualifier 2 on May 24 in Chennai, where they’ll meet Sunrisers Hyderabad.