Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru returned to winning ways on Sunday with a two-wicket win over Mumbai Indians off the final ball in Raipur, knocking Mumbai and Lucknow Super Giants out of the playoff race.
Rasikh Salam scrambled two runs off the final delivery from Raj Bawa as Bengaluru chased down 167 at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, their second home venue this season.
Naman Dhir top-scored with 47 as Mumbai recovered to post 166-7 after early setbacks, before Krunal Pandya’s half-century guided Bengaluru through a tense chase.
“It’s a crucial two points for us. If we’d lost that one, we would have been under pressure,” said swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whose 4-23 earned him the player of the match award.
The 36-year-old struck early, taking three wickets in his first 12 deliveries.
After removing Ryan Rickelton in the opening over, Bhuvneshwar had Rohit Sharma caught behind for 22 and then dismissed stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav for a golden duck, caught by Virat Kohli at wide slip.
Tilak Varma avoided the hat-trick and rebuilt the innings with Dhir on a surface with uneven bounce.
The pair added 82 runs for the fourth wicket, but Mumbai lost momentum after Dhir’s dismissal, scoring only 35 runs in the last five overs.
Bengaluru’s chase began badly when Kohli fell for a second successive duck, caught at mid-off off Deepak Chahar.
South African Corbin Bosch then claimed four wickets to put Bengaluru under pressure.
But left-hander Krunal Pandya, promoted to number five, counter-attacked against his former franchise.
Pandya added 55 runs for the fourth wicket with England’s Jacob Bethell, who made 27, before accelerating alongside Jitesh Sharma.
Bengaluru appeared set for victory when Pandya hit two sixes off AM Ghazanfar in the 18th over, but he was dismissed off the final ball of the over for 73 off 46 balls.
Bawa needed to defend 15 runs in the final over but bowled three wides and a no-ball before conceding a six to Bhuvneshwar over cover off the fourth delivery.
“I have bowled many times and taken a few wickets, but (it’s) the six I will enjoy the most,” said Bhuvneshwar.
With the match going to the last ball, Rasikh completed the winning runs as Mumbai suffered their eighth defeat in 11 matches.
