KOLKATA: Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders bagged the remaining two play-off spots in the Indian Premier League after cantering to victories in their respective matches on Sunday.

In the final league fixture, Bangalore thumped Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in Raipur to move into second place in the eight-team standings after Kolkata delighted their home supporters at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens to past Sunrisers Hyderabad by 22 runs to take fourth spot.

In a crucial do-or-die contest, Bangalore strangled Delhi to a modest 138-8 before riding on yet another Virat Kohli innings to chase down the runs in the 19th over. The win meant Bangalore will probably have two chances of qualifying for the final if they happen to lose to table-toppers Gujarat Lions in Tuesday’s first playoff fixture.

Earlier, put into bat, Delhi lost wickets at regular intervals on a tough pitch. Quinton de Kock, who had earlier scored a century against Bangalore in the first-leg tie in Bangalore, once again stood tall. The South African was dismissed for 60 (52 balls), when he attempted to go aerial against Yuzvendra Chahal, but holed out to long-off.

Chahal was the most successful bowler with three wickets, to take his tally of wickets in the season to 19 – and thereby clinched the Purple Cap.

Bangalore were jolted at the start of their chase when Chris Morris dismissed Gayle for one and Zaheer Khan extracted extra bounce to have A.B. de Villiers (6) fending to the man at cover point.

But Kohli looked determined, and a quick fire 38 from KL Rahul must have quickly doused any tension building up in the dressing room. The pair added 66 in 7.3 overs when Rahul departed.

Kohli wasn’t the usually fluent but still compiled a stroke-filled 54 while finishing the match.

Kolkata, meanwhile, posted 171-6 riding on the back of a stroke-filled partnership between Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan, and then restricted the visitors to 149-8.

After slipping to 57-3, the hosts recovered through a partnership between Pandey and Yusuf Pathan who added 87 in eight overs before Pandey was out for 48.

Yusuf, who hit three fours and two sixes in his 34-ball innings, remained unbeaten on 51.

Kolkata then put up a disciplined bowling effort with Sunil Narine picking up three wickets, including the key scalp of Hyderabad captain David Warner for 18.

Shikhar Dhawan scored 51 before his side stumbled to 117-6 and eventually finished at 149-8.

Summarised scores:

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets.

DELHI DAREDEVILS 138-8 in 20 overs (Q. de Kock 60, C.H. Morris 27 not out; Y.S. Chahal 3-32, C.H. Gayle 2-11); ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE 139-4 in 18.1 overs (V/ Kohli 54 not out, K.L. Rahul 38).

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 22 runs.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 171-6 in 20 overs (Yusuf Pathan 52 not out, M.K. Pandey 48, R.V. Uthappa 25; D.J. Hooda 2-16, B. Kumar 2-31); SUNRISERS HYDERABAD 149-8 in 20 overs (S. Dhawan 51, D.A. Warner 18; S.P. Narine 3-26).

Final standings

(Tabulated under: matches, won, lost, points, net run-rate):

Gujarat 14 9 5 18 -0.374

Bangalore 14 8 6 16 +0.932

Hyderabad 14 8 6 16 +0.245

Kolkata 14 8 6 16 +0.106

Mumbai 14 7 7 14 -0.146

Delhi 14 7 7 14 -0.155

Pune 14 5 9 10 +0.015

Punjab 14 4 10 8 -0.616

Note: Top four teams qualify for playoffs.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2016