IPL Qualifier 1, RCB vs GL: AB de Villiers' unbeaten 79 sends RCB to final

Bengaluru: AB de Villiers you beauty. The RCB batsman's unbeaten 79 powered Virat Kohli and his men to their third final in nine editions after they defeated Gujarat Lions by 4 wickets in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL), here on Tuesday.

RCB 159-6 (18.2 overs); GL 158 (20 overs)

18th over: RCB 156-6 (AB 78, Abdulla 31)

RCB on the road to victory! AB de Villiers and Iqbal Abdulla has just turned things around for RCB.

17th over: RCB 138-6 (AB 77, Abdulla 20)

AB brings back RCB! Fierce striking of the ball and RCB now require 21 runs from the last 3 overs.

16th over: RCB 126-6 (AB 66, Abdulla 19)

AB, you beauty! Jakati has bowled a terrible over and RCB exploited it to the fullest.

15th over: RCB 110-6 (AB 58, Abdulla 11)

AB on a roll! Realising a slight drizzle in the air, AB de Villiers has hammered a six and a four to put RCB in a good position.

14th over: RCB 96-6 (AB 47, Abdulla 8)

Bravo! Dwayne Bravo has joined the attack and gave just 4 runs.

13th over: RCB 92-6 (AB 45, Abdulla 6)

Jadeja on target! Ravindra Jadeja has given away just 3 runs in this over as the odds now are highly stacked against RCB.

12th over: RCB 89-6 (AB 43, Abdulla 5)

AB keeps it going! RCB will definitely hope for a win so long as AB is at the crease.

11th over: RCB 81-6 (AB 37, Abdulla 3)

Jakati leaks runs! Shadab Jakati is having a bad day with the ball and even bowled a no-ball.

10th over: RCB 70-6 (AB 29, Iqbal Abdulla 1)

Jadeja strikes again! It was an unlucky dismissal for Binny as the ball might have pitched outside the off stump. However, the result went the Lions' way and Binny departed after scoring 21 runs.

9th over: RCB 65-5 (AB 26, Binny 20)

Binny fires! This was an excellent over for RCB, 18 runs coming from it, courtesy Binny, who launched two boundaries and a maximum off Jakati's deliveries.

8th over: RCB 47-5 (AB 23, Binny 6)

RCB have to pick up! RCB will have to get an AB special if the result has to go their way, the 8th over going for just 6 runs.

7th over: RCB 41-5 (AB 21, Binny 2)

AB puts up a brave front! AB de Villiers will have to bat out of his skin if RCB want to see themselves through to the final. De Villiers scored 2 welcome boundaries for RCB.

6th over: RCB 31-5 (AB 12, Stuart Binny 1)

Kulkarni wants more! Dhawal Kulkarni has got his best bowling figures in IPL with 4 wickets in just his 3 overs. Sachin Baby was the last to go without scoring.

5th over: RCB 28-4 (AB 10, Sachin Baby 0)

Jadeja joins the party! Ravindra Jadeja took the pace off the ball and Watson misjudged it completely. Watson departed after scoring just 1 run.

4th over: RCB 25-3 (AB 8, Shane Watson 0)

Kulkarni shines! Dhawal Kulkarni has bowled a spell he will remember for a lifetime. After sending Kohli, the Lions bowler got two more wickets in this over.

3rd over: RCB 25-1 (Gayle 9, AB 8)

AB launches one! AB de Villiers hammered a sweet shot much to the noise from the fans.

2nd over: RCB 17-1 (Gayle 9, AB de Villiers 1)

Not Kohli's day! When have you last seen Virat Kohli walk back for a duck? It might be the law of averages catching up as Dhawal Kulkarni sent the RCB skipper without scoring.

1st over: RCB 11-0 (Chris Gayle 5, Virat Kohli 0)

Praveen Kumar completely off target! PK has got to get his line right as two deliveries kissed the boundary rope freely.

Bengaluru: After losing three quick wickets, Gujarat Lions have posted 158 runs at the end of 20 overs against Royal Challengers Bangalore, here on Tuesday in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL), courtesy Dwayne Smith's 73.

GL 158 (20 overs)

20th over: GL 158 (Shadab Jakati 1)

Jordan brilliant at the end! Chris Jordan bowled a brilliant last over as Gujarat Lions have posted a 159-run target. Dhawal Kulkarni was run out in the last ball of the Gujarat innings, going for just 10 runs.

19th over: GL 150-8 (Dhawal Kulkarni 8, Praveen Kumar 0 )

Watto's two for two does it! Shane Watson picked by two vital wickets, first of Dwivedi, who scored a quick 9-ball 19 and then Bravo (8). This over was indeed an eventful one.

18th over: GL 133-6 (Bravo 8, Dwivedi 7)

Jordan on target! Death-bowling expert Chris Jordan gave away hardly any runs as Gujarat look to score big.

17th over: GL 121-6 (Eklavya Dwivedi 5, Bravo 3)

Smith's innings come to an end!

16th over: GL 108-5 (Smith 67, Dwayne Bravo 1)

Watson strikes! Just when another partnership was looming over RCB's head, Watson provided the breakthrough sending Ravindra Jadeja (3) back.

15 over: GL 104-4 (Smith 66, Jadeja 2)

Smith fires on! Sreenath Aravind, who bowled brilliantly in his first spell, was not spared by the well-set Smith, who launched a massive one over deep square leg.

14 over: GL 94-4 (Smith 58, Ravindra Jadeja 0)

Chris Jordan strikes! Dinesh Karthik's valuable knock came to an end as he was shuffling across the crease. DK scored 26.

13th over: GL 89-3 (Smith 56, DK 23)

Smith registers a half-century! Dwayne Smith brings up his fifty in 31 balls and RCB desperately need a wicket.

12th over: GL 72-3 (Smith 45, DK 18)

Smith strikes big! Dwayne Smith has taken the attack back to the RCB bowlers smashing at least one six in each over. The Smith-DK partnership now woth 63 runs.

11th over: GL 64-3 (Smith 38, DK 17)

Runs coming freely! Smith and DK are putting on quite a partnership with runs flowing freely.

10th over: GL 58-3 (Smith 37, DK 12)

Gujarat picking it up! Slowly but steadily Gujarat Lions are gathering steam and it's Smith who is doing the damage. The West Indies batsman struck two boundaries and a maximum in this over.

9th over: GL 42-3 (Smith 22, DK 11)

Binny doesn't give anything! Stuart Binny was on target with his bowling giving away just 4 runs from his first over.

8th over: GL 38-3 (Smith 20, DK 9)

Chahal shines! The IPL's current purple cap holder Yuzvendra Chahal gave only 5 runs from his first over.

7th over: GL 33-3 (Smith 18, DK 6)

Smith fires! Chris Jordan was introduced into the attack but leaked too many runs as Smith launched one over backward sqaure leg.

6th over: GL 23-3 (Smith 11, DK 5)

Accurate Watson! Shane Watson's deceiving length is created a lot of problems for Smith and DK. Just 23 runs from the powerplay and a great achievement by Kohli and RCB.

5th over: GL 20-3 (Smith 10, DK 3)

Gujarat still yet to kick off! Gujarat Lions are going through one of their worst powerplays this season. Dwayne Smith struck two boundaries in this over off Abdulla's bowling.

4th over: GL 10-3 (Dwayne Smith 1, DK 2)

Watto man! Gujarat Lions have lost their skipper Raina for just 1 run as Shane Watson joined the RCB party with his first wicket in the match. Sreenath Aravind picked up a brilliant catch.

3rd over: GL 9-2 (Raina 1, DK 2)

Aravind fired up! RCB are just dominating proceedings out in the middle. Raina and DK completely clueless as bowlers are on target.

2nd over: GL 7-2 (Suresh Raina 0, Dinesh Karthik 1)

Abdullah shocks Gujarat! It was just brilliant captaincy by Virat Kohli to bring spinner Iqbal Abdulla and did he stun Gujarat taking two vital wickets of Brendon McCullum (1) and Aaron Finch (4).

1st over: GL 2-0 (Brendon McCullum 1, Aaron Finch 0)

Aravind on target! Sreenath Aravind managed to keep Gujarat Lions opener Brendon McCullum silent in the first over with just 2 runs in the over.

Bengaluru: We’re down to the last four matches of season 9 of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Kicking off the first Qualifier will be a roaring Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) up against a resurgent Gujarat Lions at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, here on Tuesday.

Virat Kohli has won the toss and RCB elect to field.

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Powered by Kohli’s four belligerent tons, RCB, after sporadic performances in the first half of the season, came back strong to qualify for the playoffs. With the form chase-master Kohli is in (with 919 runs he requires another 81 more to reach the 1000-run mak, the highest run-scorer by any player in a single edition of IPL), backed firmly by Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, RCB have the fire-power to neutralise any bowling attack on a given day and they have home advantage in this encounter.

Also Read: Kohli’s an inspiration for seniors as well: Harbhajan

Table-toppers Gujarat Lions on the other hand, suffered a slump in form after a rampaging start to the season. Led steadily by skipper Suresh Raina, the IPL debutants have performed exceptionally well winning nine out of their 14 games.

The Bengaluru outfit suffered an initial crisis when their bowling failed to live up to the expectations of the team.

Also Read: Steyn happy to sit out against Kohli-AB de Villiers?

However, that was short-lived, courtesy Yuzvendra Chahal, who is the leading wicket-taker with 19 scalps from 11 games. The late entry of Chris Jordon also helped RCB in containing their rivals in the death overs. Australian all-rounder Shane Watson too has served the team well with the ball, picking up 16 wickets so far in this season.

In the bowling department, Gujarat have relied heavily on the pace-swing duo of Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni. While Bravo has 15 wickets against his name, Kulkarni has managed 14 scalps so far. Ravindra Jadeja and Pravin Tambe, who did not have the best of IPL so far, would like to come to the party.

While RCB would want to carry on the momentum and better their runners-up finish in 2009 and 2011 editions, Gujarat will hope for a win to the final on Sunday, although both these teams will get another chance to the final by locking horns against the winner of the Eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Also Read: Kohli, AB crash records as RCB decimate Gujarat Lions

Gujarat defeated RCB by six wickets in their opening meeting this season before suffering the 144-run loss in the next tie.

Form guide:

Gujarat Lions: WWLWL (last five matches, most recent first)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: WWWWL