Dedicating this season to their first ever captain Shane Warne, the Rajasthan Royals entered their second IPL final since winning the inaugural tournament in 2008.

They beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore comprehensively in front of a hundred thousand spectators in Ahmedabad and now face the Gujarat Titans for the title in the final on Monday morning. Cricket analyst Rahul Patil analyses all the action from the third playoff match.

Playoff Qualifier 2

Rajasthan Royals 161 for 3 (Jos Buttler 106*, Hazlewood 2/23) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 157 for 8 (Rajat Patidar 58, Prasidh Krishna 3/22, Obed McCoy 3/23)

On paper this was a mouthwatering contest. Rajasthan hurting after the loss against the Gujarat Titans while Bangalore riding high on their success against the Lucknow Super Giants. Rajasthan had Jos Buttler (this year’s highest run scorer in the IPL) whereas Bangalore had Virat Kohli (IPL’s all-time highest run scorer ever). Rajasthan had Yuzuvendra Chahal (this year’s highest wicket taker in the IPL) whereas Bangalore had Harshal Patel (IPL’s all-time highest wicket taker in a single season ever). But in reality, the mouthwatering contest failed miserably to live up to all the hype.

To win a long tournament like the IPL requires a combined team effort. At some point of time each of the 11 individuals have to put up their hand and do their bit. Unfortunately for Bangalore this year a number of their big players failed to do so. Captain Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell all had poor returns with the bat compared to their own high standards and the same applied to Mohammed Siraj with the ball. Veteran Dinesh Karthik had a terrific season with the bat and Harshal Patel was his usual professional self with the ball but it just wasn’t enough to take them any further than they managed to and Bangalore’s hunt for that elusive first IPL title continues.

Batting first in a knock out game Bangalore failed to put on a fighting total due to some accurate and smart bowling by all the Rajasthan bowlers. India international Prasidh Krishna rocked Bangalore early with the wicket of Virat Kohli and later returned to dismiss Dinesh Karthik cheaply as well. He finished with impressive match figures of 4-0-22-3. West Indian international Obed McCoy shared the spoils with Krishna picking up 3 for 23 himself. Bangalore’s surprise package from the last game Rajat Patidar once again shone with the bat with an eye catching 58 of 42 balls. Although their 2022 season is over, Bangalore have definitely discovered a gem in Patidar who looks like a long term prospect. Thanks to him the side managed to set Rajasthan a target of 158 to win – way below par but something to bowl at.

If Bangalore had any hopes of defending 157, those hopes were squashed by the Rajasthan openers from the first over itself. Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal put on 61 for the 1^st wicket in just 31 balls to signal their intentions. When Jaiswal departed Buttler took the reins in his own hands and singlehandedly destroyed everything that was thrown at him. Before hitting the winning runs in the 19^th over Buttler brought up his fourth hundred of this year’s tournament to match Virat Kohli’s record that he set in 2016. Buttler now has scored 824 runs in this year’s IPL which is the second highest aggregate ever. He requires a further 150 runs to break Virat Kohli’s record of 973 runs that he set in the 2016 tournament. Buttler has one innings left to break Kohli’s record and I wonder what the odds are paying for that to happen.

Rajasthan now face the Gujarat Titans in the season finale. Having dedicated the 2022 season to their first and only title winning captain Shane Warne, it would be a fitting farewell to the legend if they could win the title again. The world stopped spinning when Warnie left us in March this year but I am sure he is still inspiring and cheering on the Royals from the heavens above. I hope on Monday morning they can win it for Warnie the legend.