Lucknow Super Giants bowler Digvesh Rathi was in the centre of controversy once again after he Mankaded Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Jitesh Sharma and appealed for a wicket. However, LSG captain Rishabh Pant withdrew the appeal as a sign of sportsman spirit and ultimately Jitesh went on to guide RCB to a 6-wicket win which enabled them to finish in the Top 2. The incident happened in the 17th over when Rathi, seeing Jitesh out of the non-striker's crease, went ahead and took the bails off the stumps. The bat was not grounded which could have ended Jitesh's night but Pant decided not to take a wicket that way and withdrew the appeal. Jitesh conjured up a sensational unbeaten 85 to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru trump Rishabh Pant's exceptional 118 and seal the team's place in the IPL Qualifier 1. The Royal Challengers will now face Punjab Kings in the Qualifier 1 at Mullanpur on Thursday. The RCB finished second on the table with 19 points, same as Punjab but finished behind them on net run rate — +0.30 against PBKS' +0.37. The RCB started in a hurry chasing an imposing 228, as Virat Kohli (54, 30b, 10x4) and Phil Salt (30, 19b) added 61 runs in a mere 5.4 overs before Jitesh (85) and Mayank Agarwal (41) taking them home, making 107 runs for the impressive unbroken fifth wicket stand. They eventually made 230/4 in 18.4 overs. But it started with Kohli and Salt playing risk-free cricket even in the Power Play, hammering 12 fours in that phase before Salt getting dismissed by pacer Akash Khan. But Kohli continued to pierce the field for boundaries even after the Power Play, and a back foot punch that raced to the fence for a four off Akash was a treat to watch. The shot also carried Kohli past the fifty-run mark off just 27 balls, but he could not convert that into something bigger. The senior batter tried to bunt pacer Avesh Khan over long-off but could not clear Ayush Badoni in that position. The Royal Challengers were 123 for four in 11.4 overs at that stage after losing out-of-form skipper Rajat Patidar and Liam Livingstone, who came in for injured Tim David, in the eighth over to pacer Will O'Rourke. The RCB were still 103 runs away from victory and the asking rate was touching almost 13. But Jitesh, who was saved by Digvesh Rathi's back-foot no-ball on 49, and Agarwal pulverised LSG bowlers in their own style to take RCB home.
