As it happened - Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2021, Dubai

Maxwell finishes in a hurry

9.30pm

6, 2, 4, 2, 4, 4. Chris Morris is the unlucky bowler as Maxwell rushes from 28 off 24 to 50 off 30. Some trademark Maxwell shots in there, particularly the shot to get to his half-century, a bottom-handed whip over the non-striker's head.

That leaves RCB just one run to get, and AB de Villiers puts away the winning hit off the first ball of the 18th over, sweeping Riyan Parag for four. RCB have won by seven wickets, with 17 balls to spare, and they've dominated every moment since that distant time when the Royals were 100 for 1.

RCB now have 14 points from 11 games, and they've created a bit of a cushion in third place, going four points clear of their nearest rivals KKR and Mumbai, who each have 10 from 11. The Royals remain firmly second from bottom, and making the playoffs, while still mathematically possible, looks completely unlikely.

"We have nothing to lose," Sanju Samson says. "We can play with a lot of openness and express ourselves. We need to keep believing in ourselves, and keep fighting."

And that's it from the live report for today. Plenty of post-match content still to come, so do keep an eye out for that. Cheers!

Mustafizur bags his second, but is it too late?

9.23pm

A short ball gets up steeper than Bharat might have expected, and he ends up miscuing his pull to fine leg. He's out for 44 off 35, and RCB are 127 for 3. They only need 23 off the last four overs, though.

Bharat begins to show his range

9.13pm

He was going at less than a run a ball a little while ago, but now he's on 39 off 29. He's slog-swept Chris Morris for a massive six, and he's reverse-swept Rahul Tewatia fine for four. RCB are 115 for 2 in 14 overs, and they now need less than a run a ball.

Maxwell and Bharat chip away

8.57pm

After 11 overs, RCB are 86 for 2. KS Bharat is batting on 18 off 20, but there's no real scoreboard pressure with the required rate well under control. And Glenn Maxwell at the other end has moved to 14 off 9. And he could have had five runs more had Mustafizur Rahman not made an astonishing leaping save at long leg to prevent a top-edged pull from clearing the boundary.

Both openers gone

8.41pm

Virat Kohli looks to sneak a run off a misfield at backward point, and a direct hit from Riyan Parag finds him short of his crease at the bowler's end. RCB are 58 for 2 in 6.5 overs. Has the tiniest window of opportunity opened up for the Royals?

Not quite deja vu

8.28pm

When these two teams met in the India leg of this season, this happened. Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal were threatening a repeat, rushing to 48 for 0 in five overs, but Padikkal swipes across the line in the last over of the powerplay, plays a touch early, and is bowled by Mustafizur Rahman. Padikkal had crunched Mustafizur for two fours in his previous over. RCB 48 for 1 in 5.2 overs.

RCB quickly off the blocks

8.13pm

The first two overs of the chase bring five fours, four off the bat of Virat Kohli. One was off an edge and another off a leg-stump half-volley, but he's also shown some early intent, particularly with a shovel over mid-off off Kartik Tyagi. RCB are 27 for no loss in two overs.

24, 25, 26

7.53pm

Final over. Harshal Patel, the season's top wicket-taker, gets Riyan Parag to slice one in the air to extra-cover, and follows up by having Chris Morris caught at sweeper cover next ball. There's no hat-trick, but Chetan Sakariya slogs the last ball of the innings straight to long-on, and Harshal now has 26 wickets for the season.

The Royals finish on 149 for 9. They were 100 for 1 at one stage, so it's been quite a fall for them. Harshal picked up three wickets, but the key bowlers for RCB were the spinners. Chahal picked up 2 for 18 in four, and Shahbaz 2 for 10 in two. There's clearly something in the pitch for the spinners, but the Royals don't really have a gun spin attack. Mustafizur Rahman, however, could enjoy himself here.

Here's a nice stat from Sampath Bandarupalli:

Most wickets in an IPL season by an uncapped player:
26* - Harshal Patel (For RCB in 2021)
23 - Yuzvendra Chahal (For RCB in 2015)
21 - Sreenath Aravind (For RCB in 2011)
21 - Siddarth Kaul (For SRH in 2018)

Bye bye, Liam

7.27pm

The death overs begin, and RCB keep Chahal on, because he's been brilliant today, landing everything just short of the batter's hitting arc, and getting enough from the pitch to imperil the big shots from that length. He tosses one up wide of off stump to Livingstone, and he can't get hold of the slog against the turn. Hits it tamely down long-on's throat, and the Royals are 127 for 6 in 16.2.

With that, here are Livingstone's numbers by bowling type: 23 off 15 balls against pace, with two dismissals, and 13 off 20 against spin, with two dismissals. By keeping Chahal on for that one over at the death, RCB ensured he didn't face pace at all today.

Before you say it, yes, those are tiny sample sizes.

Two in an over for Shahbaz

7.18pm

Tewatia was sent in to attack the left-arm spinner, and he attempts to do just that, but ends up hitting a sweep down the throat of deep backward square leg. Royals 117 for 5 in 14 overs.

A big test of Royals' hitting depth

7.15pm

Looking for his third six, Sanju Samson looks to hit Shahbaz Ahmed over extra-cover, but ends up slicing it squarer than he'd like, and picks out sweeper cover. A first-ball wicket for the left-arm spinner today. The Royals have lost their last three wickets for the addition of 13 runs, and are now 113 for 3 in 13.1 overs. A promotion for Rahul Tewatia, which isn't a bad idea with a left-arm spinner and a legspinner in Chahal operating for RCB.

Chahal gives RCB breathing room

7.10pm

Lomror steps out and Chahal sees him coming. Fires one wide of off stump from over the wicket, and it doesn't turn as much as the left-hander expects as he looks to slog over the leg side. He misses, Bharat whips the bails off, and the Royals are 113 for 3 in 12.5 overs. Here, finally, is Livingstone.

Garton gets the big wicket

7.00pm

A short ball that kicks up off the pitch and ends up cramping Lewis for room on the pull. Lewis tends to play a lot of pulls with his bat-face pointing skywards, and that can be dangerous when there's extra bounce as on this occasion. Scoops a high catch that the keeper, KS Bharat, takes running to his right. Royals 100 for 2 in 11.1, and they keep the right-left combination going by sending in Mahipal Lomror rather than Liam Livingstone.

Shot of the innings

6.58pm

The Royals bring up their 100 off the final ball of the 11th over. Yuzvendra Chahal has bowled a decent first over until then, but then he floats one a touch too full and also offers width. Samson caresses it for a flat six to the left of long-off.

Fifty

6.54pm

He's really looking ominous today, is Lewis. And Harshal Patel is making things a little easier for him too. Lewis brings up fifty off 31 balls with a top shot - a pull to beat deep square leg to his right off a ball that wasn't actually all that shot - but the next ball is a hit-me ball, short and down the leg side, and he happily swats it past short fine leg to pick up another boundary. The Royals finish the 10th over at 91 for 1.

Christian strikes

6.45pm

Yashasvi Jaiswal launches a six over extra-cover, and then looks to go over mid-off, but this ball's a touch too full for him to get the desired elevation, and he picks out the fielder at extra-cover. A good hand, though - 31 off 22 - and not the worst time for Sanju Samson to be walking into the middle, with 11.4 overs remaining. The Royals are 77 for 2.

Jaiswal joins the party

6.38pm

From 15 off 15, he's now moved to 24 off 18 with a pair of boundaries off Dan Christian, a slash backward of point and a cute little scoop past short fine leg. The Royals are 67 for 0 in seven overs.

Powerplay ends

6.34pm

After six overs, the Royals are 56 for 0, with Lewis on 41 off 21 and Jaiswal on 15 off 15. Mohammed Siraj has just bowled an excellent sixth over, slanting the ball away from the left-handers without offering them too much width, while hitting the hard lengths. The Royals are on course for 179, according to ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster tool.

Early indications - not a pitch for the slower ball

6.26pm

Lewis clears his front leg to make a bit of swinging room and absolutely clobbers a Harshal Patel slower ball over the long-on boundary in the fifth over. It was one of those slower cutters that Harshal bowls often, but it simply didn't grip on this hard, well-grassed pitch, and Lewis barely had to adjust his bat swing against it. There seem to be a lot of runs to be had here.

Welcome to the IPL, Mr Garton

6.20pm

After a quiet first over, Garton swaps ends for his second, the fourth of the Royals' innings, and he runs into Evin Lewis, who's quickly getting into a mood here. Two pulled sixes sandwiching a precise back-cut between backward point and short third man, and 18 come off that over in total. Lewis is on 28 off 15, and the Royals are 39 for no loss in four.

Match-up doesn't quite come off for RCB

6.14pm

After George Garton and Mohammed Siraj keep the Royals down to 8 for 0 off the first two overs, RCB bring on Glenn Maxwell. An entirely reasonable move with two left-handers at the crease. But he floats one up and lands it a touch too full, and Yashasvi Jaiswal hits him for a straight six. Then he drops one a touch short and Evin Lewis stabs it away past backward point for four. Thirteen come off that over, and the Royals are 21 for 0 in three.

RCB bowl, Tyagi returns to Royals' attack

5.34pm

Virat Kohli expects the pitch to do a little bit in the first few overs, and then become good to bat on for the rest of the day. As we predicted, it's Jamieson who makes way for Garton.

"We had a long chat yesterday, and we refreshed the purpose of playing this game," Sanju Samson says, about the Royals' morale. He wants his team to enjoy the game and put a smile on their fans' faces. A change in the fast-bowling department for them, Kartik Tyagi returning in place of Jaydev Unadkat.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 KS Bharat (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Daniel Christian, 7 George Garton, 8 Shahbaz Ahmed, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Siraj.

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Mahipal Lomror. 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Kartik Tyagi, 10 Chetan Sakariya, 11 Mustafizur Rahman.

A new RCB cap

5.22pm

George Garton, the Sussex and Southern Brave left-arm quick, will be playing his first game for RCB today. It'll be interesting to see who he replaces. Dan Christian? Kyle Jamieson? It could be Jamieson, who missed RCB's game against CSK, and then came back against the Mumbai Indians, but only bowled two overs.

If you're unfamiliar with Garton, he had a terrific Hundred for the Brave, and he's just earned a BBL call-up with the Adelaide Strikers.

Erratic in the UAE

5.10pm (UAE time)

Hello and welcome. It's time for the Royals against RCB. Two teams that have won one out of three in their respective UAE legs so far. Two teams who haven't got a whole lot of recent form behind them, but two teams in very different situations as far as their playoffs hopes go.

RCB are in third right now, and have a two-point cushion over their nearest pursuers with a game in hand, which is a pretty good place to be. The Royals are second from bottom, and their net run rate isn't flash either, but a win here will keep them in contention for the playoffs. This is a line-up that contains Evin Lewis, Sanju Samson and Liam Livingstone - surely they're due a big total one of these days. Could today be that day?