Raipur, 10 May. The double-paced and uneven pitch of the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium witnessed one of the most exciting matches of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL-19) 2026, which ended in a very dramatic manner on the last ball. In this sequence, the current champion Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) broke the sequence of two consecutive defeats by winning by two wickets in this relatively low-scoring match played on Sunday night and secured the top position in the points table.

Meanwhile, the hopes of former five-time champion Mumbai Indians (MI) of entering the playoffs were dashed. The result of this match also formally sealed the departure of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who had almost ended their hopes today with a five-wicket defeat at the hands of another five-time former champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the first match of the double header which lasted till the last over.

Bhuvi and company MI restricted to 166 runs

In fact, after losing the coin toss, Mumbai Indians, forced to bat first, could not go far in front of senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-23) and his teammates and the team of Tilak Verma (57 runs, 42 balls, two sixes, three fours), Naman Dheer (47 runs, 32 balls, two sixes, five fours) and Rohit Sharma (22 runs, 10 balls, two sixes, two fours) Despite efforts, it could reach only 166 runs for seven wickets.

Krunal Pandya shows form after a bad start

In reply, Chennai got off to a bad start in front of Corbyn Bosch (4-26) and Deepak Chahar (2-33) when the top three batsmen in Virat Kohli (0), Devdutt Padikkal (12 runs, 11 balls, one six, one four) and captain Rajat Patidar (8 runs, eight balls, one four) were out for 39 runs in the sixth over.

Pandya along with Bethel and Jitesh got the car back on track.

But this is where all-rounder Krunal Pandya (73 runs, 46 balls, five sixes, four fours) took the lead with a stormy style and with two useful partnerships of 55 runs on 42 balls with opener Jacob Bethel (27 runs, 27 balls, two fours) and 37 runs on 22 balls with Jitesh Sharma (18 runs, 12 balls, two sixes, one four). Returned on track. In the end, once again Bhuvi (seven runs not out, two balls, one six) along with Rasikh Salam (three runs not out, two balls) gave a thrilling victory to the team on the last ball, which took a sigh of relief after scoring 167 for eight wickets.

RCB has Beat SRH and GT

With their seventh win in 11 matches, RCB has not only collected 14 points, equal to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Gujarat Titans (GT), but has also pushed both the teams to second and third place respectively on the basis of net run rate, while Punjab Kings (PBKS) is in fourth place with 13 points in 10 matches.

On the other hand, Mumbai Indians have been able to collect only six points due to their eighth defeat in 11 matches and are in ninth place, just above the laggards LSG (six points). This means that despite winning their last three matches, both these teams will be able to reach only a maximum of 12 points, which will be insufficient for a playoff ticket.

thrill of the final ball

In fact, the end of the match was so exciting that it cannot be explained. RCB needed two runs on the last ball to win, when Rasikh Salam lightly tapped Raj Bawa’s almost yorker ball and sent it back to the bowler. The ball slipped from Bava and rolled towards the mid-on region. When Ryan Rickelton caught the throw and dropped the wicket at the keeper’s end, Rasikh completed his second run by diving and reaching the crease, giving an opportunity to Virat Kohli and his fellow players to rejoice along with the RCB fans present in the stadium.

Bhuvneshwar and Krunal were the real heroes of RCB’s victory.

Overall, perhaps two players – Bhuvneshwar and Krunal were the real heroes of RCB’s victory. Talking about ‘Player of the Match’ Bhuvi, he took three wickets in his brilliant spell with the new ball, then came back at a crucial juncture in the death overs and sent MI’s top scorer Tilak to the pavilion.

The six got more pleasure than the four wickets.

Whereas in the last over of CSK’s innings, when Bhuvi came to bat at number 10, nine runs were needed in three balls. He hit a well-timed six on the fourth ball of Bawa’s 10-ball uncontrolled over, which went over the fielder standing at sweeper cover. This was Bhuvneshwar’s first six in IPL after 2016.

score card

On the other hand, if we look at Krunal Pandya, when RCB’s score was 39 runs at the loss of three wickets in the sixth over, he was promoted to number five in the batting order. Krunal took the responsibility of chasing runs upon himself and found ways to hit boundaries even at a time when other batsmen around him were struggling to hit the middle of the bat properly. Ultimately, despite suffering from muscle strain, Pandya hit sixes and led the team to victory with a brilliant innings.

Mumbai’s only half-century partnership between Tilak and Naman

Before this, if we look at Mumbai’s innings, Bhuvneshwar destroyed the top order (3-28) by dismissing Ryan Rickleton (two runs), Rohit Sharma and acting captain Suryakumar Yadav (zero). However, Tilak and Naman Dheer managed the team to some extent by making a partnership of 82 runs in 57 balls for the fourth wicket.

Monday’s match: Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals (Dharamsala, 7.30 pm).