Livingstone, Samson, Unadkat keep Royals' playoff hopes alive
Samson completes the chase without breaking a sweat after a lightning start from the openers and a fine bowling performance in the death
Samson completes the chase without breaking a sweat after a lightning start from the openers and a fine bowling performance in the death
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: @saurabh_42
And with that, it's another wrap from all of us here. Goodnight, and be sure to join us for the double-header tomorrow.
11.46pm Steven Smith: "Just landed on the elbow. Hopefully it's okay. I'll know more when I take the tape off. But it was a good end to our home season. The boys pulled it back nicely in the middle overs. We used the change of pace well. We were able to restrict them to 160 which I thought was about par. Liam Livingstone opening for the first time in IPL hit the ball cleanly and Sanju finished it off well. We're playing together as a group and winning those key moments. At the start we weren't doing it. We've had a lot of close games and fortunately last few we've been able to get over the line. For us it's just about going on winning and then we'll see what happens. I've got one more match in Bangalore, so it'll be nice to finish off on a winning note, and hopefully the boys can win in Delhi too."
Jaydev Unadkat is the Man of the Match. "All I can say is I needed this. I've had tough times yes, but I've grown as a player. The catches were sticking to my hand today. The management and Smudge have been backing me throughout the last few games. The way he was coming every ball and telling me what to do and what not, I really needed that. They had a good Powerplay but we knew that if we come back strongly it will get harder and harder. All we needed to do was take the pace off the ball."
Presentation time.
11.33pm: Kane Williamson: "I think it was the nature of the surface, if you pick up wickets, starting was quite tough. Potentially a competitive total. But they did it a little bit better than we did. They kept wickets in hand and we weren't able to get the breakthroughs we usually get. (Pandey) is playing with some nice freedom. Couple of great performances. A little bit disappointing today, but very fine lines in this game. It started to reverse a little bit with the surface so we thought it's best to stick with our five (frontline) bowlers and not go to a sixth."
Sanju Samson: "Not an easy thing to come back and play like that after three ducks so I really appreciate his efforts (on Turner). When I win a match for my team, it means a lot. It was a very big nick (off Pandey) but when Steve Smith came to me, he felt there was no nick. Not an easy job to come out and play like this after being second from bottom in the table. We really appreciate the effort each one is putting in. We still have hopes high. Nothing is impossible in this tournament, we might still end up qualifying."
11.30pm: Rajasthan have not only kept their chances alive, they've ensured that CSK are the first team guaranteed a play-off spot in IPL 2019. No combination of results can have four teams above CSK now, so they maintain their 100% record of making it to the play-offs. This was a clinical performance by Royals. They kept their heads when Manish Pandey was smashing it to all parts and came back superbly in the second half of the Sunrisers innings. Then Livingstone gave the chase the rocket it needed at the start, and Samson showed great composure to finish it off.
Askar Ali Khan: "As an Afghanistan fan, I am worried about Rashid Khan's form leading up to the World Cup. He has not lit this IPL as expected and is going for some runs as well. " - he's been mostly great this IPL. Teams have played very carefully against him, which is reflected in his excellent economy rate
Ramlal Karri: "A late surge by RR & RCB followed by the dip in form by SRH, KKR & KXIP made the qualifications more interesting. RR wins this match easily. If KKR and RCB win tomorrow, this will be most fiercely contested year in IPL history!!"
Vinod Rajpal: "Any guess ; who would be Man of the Match ? ......Livingstone ??" - Unadkat. 2-26 and three good catches
Rahul: "Stokes departure is a blessing in disguise for RR. He wasn't contributing much with bat or ball. "
Rajasthan Royals made numerous errors on the field and gifted away plenty of runs, but the visitors still failed to make a competitive total
Samson completes the chase without breaking a sweat after a lightning start from the openers and a fine bowling performance in the death
It's a must-win game for Steven Smith's men, while the stakes are slightly lower for the visitors, who are comparatively better-placed on the table,