Chandigarh/IBNS: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) stormed into the final after a gap of 9 years, having outclassed PBKS in all departments, defeating them by 8 wickets and exactly 10 overs to spare in Chandigarh on Thursday.

Phil Salt single-handedly led the assault, making 56 off just 27 balls. The game, though, was decided by the time the 1st half ended, thanks to the RCB bowlers who had bundled out PBKS for a sub-par score of 101. The PBKS did not help themselves by being ultra-aggressive till the very end in the quest to take it to a huge total.

Having had an even match outcome in the league phase as 1:1, one would have expected it to be a close match, especially the way both the teams played their respective last league matches, winning in an authoritative manner. Even during the entire 14-match league phase of the tournament, both these teams had a near identical progress in the points table, to the point of ending at the exact same points with similar run rates. At the end, the game turned out to be one-sided.

RCB will now have a 4-day break and will wait for the remaining teams to fight it out to meet them in the Final on Tuesday. On the other hand, PBKS will need to figure out fast as to what went wrong.

They will take heart, though, from the fact that they have not lost two games in a row this season, which should make them go in with full confidence when they step on the field during the 2nd Qualifier on Sunday. They will now await the winner of the Eliminator between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians tomorrow at Ahmedabad. It will be an agonizing wait as they, too, would be eager to make it to the final after 11 years to join RCB.

The game began with RCB choosing to field first and were instantly rewarded with the wicket of the dangerous Priyansh Arya in the 2nd over. Prabhsimran tried to continue attacking but fell soon after, with the score on 27.

From then on, it seemed a procession, as captain Shreyas, Josh Inglis, Nehal Wadhera, and Shashank Singh were all back in the hut for single digits, with the score reaching just 60 in the 9th over.  PBKS were forced to bring a batter in, and chose to bring in an IPL debutant in Musheer Khan, who, unfortunately for them, could not contribute and was out for a duck, adding to their woes.

Marcus Stoinis and Azmatullah Omarzai continued to play their shots to try and get PBKS to a fighting total, but they too could not save PBKS the blushes. Josh Hazelwood, who returned from an injury, and spinner Suyash Sharma were the pick of the bowlers, picking up 3 wickets each, with contributions from the other bowlers.

The captaincy from Rajat Patidar was on point as, with wickets tumbling all over, he did not hold his main slog bowlers back. Finishing Yash Dayal first and then bringing Hazelwood to finish his spell by the 15th over, who duly obliged by taking the last batter Omarzai out, with the help of a stunning one-handed catch from last match’s hero keeper Jitesh Sharma, leaving a target of 102 for them to get.

RCB began their chase in a positive manner, motoring along to 30 in the 4th over, with both Virat Kohli and Phil Salt looking in good touch. Kyle Jamieson managed to get Kohli to edge one, and PBKS got some hope, having got the best chaser of the game out. The over continued to look ominous as Jamieson kept troubling Mayank for the rest of the over, almost getting him a couple of times.

Salt, however, had other plans and launched a stunning assault on the other end, dashing all hopes, bringing up a quick-fire 50 off 23 balls. For a brief while, it appeared that RCB may chase it down in well under 10 overs, but Mayank’s dismissal of part-timer Musheer meant that it took a few extra balls to finish the chase.

Fittingly, it was their regular captain, who came with full match fitness today, was there at the crease to help complete the chase at the end of the 10th over with a six, underlining the tournament that he and RCB have had.