As it happened: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Qualifier 2, IPL 2022, Ahmedabad

This has been a regal knock from the Englishman. Knockout game, runs to chase, having to overcome indifferent form - no worries. He shellacks a 59-ball 100 and then brings up the winning runs by biffing Harshal Patel into the stands. Royals have won in a canter with 11 balls to spare.

RCB - when they've been bad, they've been very poor. It explaisn their poor NRR, and it perhaps explains why they're out. The Cup will have to wait. Two ways to look at this: Another year of disappointment or a year of improvement, where they went from Eliminator to Q2 after two attempts.

Buttler has made his own luck. And someone who has played as well as he has deserves some.

He gets a healthy nick to a slower Harshal delivery, but the ball wobbles late as Dinesh Karthik fails to grab the catch behind the stumps. To add insult to injury, Samson bludgeons Harshal over wide long-on for a huge six. Required rate less than a run a ball.

Six innings, 5 dismissals, average 3.8, strike rate 76.

But Royals are so far ahead that Samson can even afford to settle in tonight. Here's Karthik Krishnaswamy on what makes Samson special.

Sample this:

"In Samson's mind, there is no stigma attached to risk-taking. And at Rajasthan Royals, his mindset dovetails perfectly with his role, which is different to that of most top-order Indian batters who captain their franchises."

After a brief lull towards the back half, Buttler has returned to his destructive self when his team needed him to. Of course he has been helped along the way with some mediocre bowling from RCB, but by trusting the methods that have brought him success, Buttler has ensured Royals have a massive headstart in this hase as they race to 67/1 after six. No premeditation, no inventive strokes, just simple hand-eye coordination and the knowledge that he can access any part of the field he wants to. Stunning stuff that has translated into a 23-ball half-century. Royals well on their way. Royals have a 90.3% chance of winning now.

If his first was taken apart by Jaiswal, Buttler got stuck into him in the second over. Barring the penultimate four that came off a thick inside edge that could've so easily crashed into the stumps, the others were all right off the middle and hit towards the intended areas. The six off the last ball travelled several rows back at deep backward square. Royals 37/0 in three.

Jaiswal climbed into Siraj to pick 16 off the first over. Short ball helped over fine leg. Length ball flicked through dswquare leg. Short ball pulled imperiously over deep square.

Mohammed Siraj has been pretty poor all powerplay in IPL 2022, his economy of 10.06 is the worst this season. The signs are ominous.

From 123 for 3 at 15, RCB have limped to 157 for 8, which is three runs above the par first-innings score in 21 T20s at the revamped Motera Stadium. At toss, Royals would've gladly taken this. Patidar's half-century the lone knock of substance for RCB. Three for Prasidh, three for Obed McCoy. How underrated has he been? Comes in, bowls the tough overs, uses his variations well and is an absolute athlete on the field, which we saw with the Maxwell catch.

A hard-length ball to get Dinesh Karthik's wicket. A rip roaring yorker to flatten Harasanga's stumps. An attempted yorker pushed into the coverd for a single A hostile bouncer that has Shahbaz ducking for cover A slower ball clobbered onto the stands Another bouncer into the body that Shahbaz can't do much about

RCB haven't been able to get the kind of finishing kick they're looking for.

Patidar was out for 58 to Ashwin in the 16th. No boundaries for nearly two full overs since, and the frustration has led to Mahipal Lomror falling in the quest for quick runs. All he could do was toe-end a slap to short third. From 175, RCB's predictor has dipped to 168 with two overs remaining.

It was on Dinesh Karthik to give them the grandstand finish, but he wasn't timing them either. A toe-ended slog to begin the 19th has been hit straight down Riyan Parag's lap at long-on. RCB's predicted score is now 165 with 11 balls left.

Maxwell thinks he's done well to get inside the line and pull the slower one over fine leg. But instead he's found the big hands of a diving Obed McCoy running in from the ropes to give Boult his first.

Chahal's first two have gone for 27. Maxwell climbs into a short ball to pull him over deep midwicket where Hetmyer's attempt at trying to leap high and push the ball back into the field of play is futile. Three balls later, Maxwell reverse sweeps as Chahal tosses one up in trying to bowl away from Maxwell's hitting arc. RCB's predicted score jumps up to 180 with seven overs left.

Two thick outside edges. One over Ashwin for four. One into his mits at short third man. Both responses were aggressive heaves to Obed McCoy's patented back-of-the-hand slower deliveries. We saw with both deliveries that the ball just held up a touch on the surface. RCB 79/2 in the 11th over. ESPNcricinfo's forecaster pegs RCB to get 167 Faf struggled for timing and rhythm for much of his knock. The result: A 27-ball 25, strike rate 92.

Maruti Suzuki ASKcricinfo stat: Hasaranga vs Chahal - who has taken more middle-overs wickets this IPL season? You can get your answer to this and a lot more. Just ask your question via voice command and let our algorithm give you your answers.

By going after Chahal's tossed up delivery almost immediately, Patidar has forced the ace leggie to go flatter. His first over has gone for 11 as RCB go up to 69/1 in nine overs. Both Patidar and Faf are off to starts. Now to change gears. Can they do it? How much are RCB looking at? So far, it appears to be a true surface. The ball has been coming on nicely. Dew could mean they will want to get 10-15 extra.

After limping to 5 off 10 deliveries, where he's hopping against Prasidh's early zip, Rajat Patidar announces his arrival with two exquisite strokes through the off side. The first had plenty of width and Patidar stayed back and cracked it behind point. The second one was more stunning. He punched a perfectly acceptable length delivery on the up through cover and point. Having hit two fours, he should've been out, buy for Riyan Parag's drop at point - straight in, straight out. RCB 46/1 in the Powerplay

Will he get another opportunity? We'll know in four hours. Prasidh Krishna shows what makes him a dangerous proposition on surfaces with some zip. He gets a length delivery to rear up awkwardly because of his high release point. All said, the ball is on a fifth-stump line. Kohli had left a similar delivery earlier in the over, but can't resist having a poke at that only to see Samson gobble up a dolly. This is the third time Prasidh had dismissed Kohli in seven innings.

Boult v Kohli: 0 dismissals, strike rate 144 over 48 deliveries
Boult v Faf: 3 dismissals, strike rate 97 over 64 deliveries.

Ground stats: Average first innnings T20 score: 154/7 Since 2021, teams chasing have won 11 out of the 17 matches.

Rajasthan Royals are bowling first. Both Royals and RCB are unchanged. Samson wants to chase because he isn't quite sure how the surface will behave since this is the first game at this venue this season. "Everyone is happy and relaxed," he says. "The atmosphere here is unreal, the proper feeling of the IPL. It's very important to keep calm and cut off the noise. It's just another game of cricket."

Faf du Plessis says they didn't do much last evening. "Just rest," he laughs. They got in to Ahmedabad less than 24 hours ago, and here thery are in front of a noisy crowd. Faf says he's ready to flex his vocal chords tonight. It is that loud.

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Devdutt Padikkal, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Trent Boult, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Obed McCoy, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Mahipal Lomror, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Mohammed Siraj