Royal Challengers Bengaluru are all set to face Rajasthan Royals in their Eliminator of IPL 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. RR, who were leading the points table at most of the time, ended the league stage on the third spot after their clash against Kolkata Knight Riders was called off at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
RR had a shot at the top two as they needed a win, while KKR had already sealed the first spot going into the final league game of the season. But rain played spoilsport in Royals second home in Guwahati to deny them any chance of competing in another abandoned game of the season.
SRH were third in the points table but moved to second with their win over Punjab Kings in the 69th match of the tournament. RR needed a win as the one point of the No-result was not enough. The two teams (RR and SRH) finish on the same points – 17 – but the Sunrisers have an NRR of +0.414, while the Royals have an NRR of +0.273.
Here’s how RCB have performed against RR in IPL playoffs
Bengaluru have gone up against Rajasthan two times in IPL playoffs and have a parity of 1-1 against the 2008 champions. RCB first met RR in the 2015 Eliminator and defeated the Royals by a huge margin of 71 runs.
Batting first, RCB made 180 on the back of half-centuries from AB de Villiers and Mandeep Singh, while their bowlers – Harshal Patel, Sreenath Aravind, David Wiese and Yuzvendra Chahal picked two wickets each. RCB bowled RR out at 109 to win the game.
The two then faced each other in Qualifier 2 in IPL 2022. Bengaluru came into the game after a win over Lucknow Super Giants in Eliminator, while RR lost to Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1.
In this game, RCB made 157 batting first with a half-ton from Rajat Patidar but Jos Buttler‘s hundred led the way for the Royals in their easy seven-wicket win in 18.1 overs.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru made their way into the playoffs after a 27-run win over Chennai Super Kings in match 68 of IPL 2024. RCB made their way into the playoffs for the ninth time.
RCB was the fourth team to confirm its place in the playoffs after Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad sealed their places a little earlier.