New Chandigarh, May 29 (IANS) A brilliant bowling show led by three-fers from Suyash Sharma and Josh Hazlewood took Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to their fourth final in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history, beating Punjab Kings by eight wickets in a one-sided Qualifier 1 clash in the 2025 season at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here on Thursday.

On a pitch that had ample stitching and extra bounce, everything went RCB’s way, right from the toss, as leg-spinner Suyash and a returning Hazlewood took 3-17 and 3-21 respectively to rip apart the PBKS’ power-packed batting line-up and bundle them out for just 101 in 14.1 overs. The duo were also supported by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, and Romario Shepherd, taking four wickets collectively to set the base for a dominating RCB win.

In the chase, opener Phil Salt scored a 23-ball fifty, his fastest half-century in the IPL, and sizzled with some exquisite stroke-play to be unbeaten on 56 off 27, as RCB completed the chase with 10 overs to spare. While RCB will now play their fourth IPL final on June 3 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, PBKS have another shot at making the final when they play Qualifier 2 against the winner of the Eliminator clash at the same venue on Sunday.

Dayal gave RCB a bright start as Priyansh Arya played a drive away from the body and a simple catch to cover. Prabhsimran Singh got the innings going by whipping Dayal for six, before carting Bhuvneshwar for back-to-back boundaries. Bhuvneshwar, though, had the last laugh as he found Prabhsimran’s thin edge on a short ball and was caught easily by the keeper.

RCB’s too-hot-to-handle bowling deepened PBKS’ woes as Shreyas Iyer went for an almighty hoick off Hazlewood and gave a thick edge behind to the keeper. The pacer again struck in the last over of power-play by having Josh Inglis caught at deep fine leg, PBKS closed the six-over phase at 48/4.

There was no end to PBKS’ downward procession as Nehal Wadhera flattened his leg stump after chopping on off the bowling of Dayal, while Shashank Singh was castled through the gate off a googly from Suyash. Impact substitute Musheer Khan lasted only three balls, as Suyash went past his swipe across the line and trapped him lbw in front of the leg stump.

Though Stoinis tried to wage a fightback, he was stopped in this pursuit by Suyash, who castled him through the gate with a googly yet again. Azmatullah Omarzai’s four and six off Suyash, along with a boundary from Kyle Jamieson, got PBKS to reach the three-figure mark, with Hazlewood completing his three-fer when Jitesh Sharma leapt full-stretch to his right and completed a stunning grab.

Chasing a paltry 102, Virat Kohli was off to a quick start with a pull of Arshdeep Singh, before glancing Jamieson for another boundary. Salt made the most of the extra bounce by hammering Arshdeep for four and six respectively. But Kohli departed in a wicket maiden fourth over when Jamieson got a back-of-the-length ball around the sixth stump to shape away from him and catch his outside edge.

With the ball moving around, Jamieson got to beat Mayank Agarwal thrice, before the batter reviewed on the fourth occasion and got to reverse the on-field out call. Salt managed to calm RCB’s nerves by flaying and steering off Omarzai for a brace of fours.

An on-drive from Agarwal was followed by Salt caressing a drive through cover, before pulling and lofting Jamieson to pick two fours and a six, as 21 runs came off the final power-play over. After RCB ended their power-play at 61/1, Salt cleared his front leg to clobber Harpreet Brar for six, before Agarwal lofted and drove Musheer for six and four respectively.

But Musheer broke the 54-run stand as Agarwal got a feather edge on the flick and was caught at slip. Salt, though, marched forward to bring up his fifty and celebrated it by slashing Brar for four.

From there, RCB’s win was just a foregone conclusion as captain Rajat Patidar thumped Musheer for four, before hitting the winning runs with an amazing slog-sweep to ensure his team had a few days off, before taking the field for the all-important title clash on June 3.

Brief scores:

Punjab Kings 101 all out in 14.1 overs (Marcus Stoinis 26, Prabhsimran Singh 18; Suyash Sharma 3-17, Josh Hazlewood 3-21) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 106/2 in 10 overs (Phil Salt 56 not out, Mayank Agarwal 19; Kyle Jamieson 1-27, Musheer Khan 1-27) by eight wickets

–IANS

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