IPL 2018: Shreyas Gopal-inspired RR dash RCB's play-off hopes with big win in Jaipur

Krishnappa Gowtham cleaned up Virat Kohli. (IANS)

Legspinner Shreyas Gopal (4/16) weaved his magic just at the right time as RR remained in the play-off hunt with a 30-run win over RCB in Jaipur on Saturday.

RCB, on the other hand, saw their play-off hopes go up in smoke with an eighth defeat in 14 games.

Chasing 165 to win, RCB started shakily as Virat Kohli found it tough to get going. He was back in the dugout before long for 4, thanks to a ripper from Krishnappa Gowtham.

Parthiv Patel and AB de Villiers added 55 for the second wicket to bring RCB back on the rails. Just when it appeared the visitors were back in control,  Parthiv (33) and Moeen Ali (1), Mandeep Singh (3), Colin de Grandhomme (1) and de Villiers (53) departed in the blink of an eye to leave RCB reeling at 98/6 in the 13th over.

Except Grandhomme, all fell to the spin brilliance of Gopal.

No way RCB could recover after that and as it turned out could only go as far as 134 all out in 19.2 overs to end their campaign in disappointment. 

 Earlier in the day after electing to bat at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, RR found themselves at least 15-20 runs short. 

After the experiment of Jofra Archer (0) failed, Ajinkya Rahane joined Rahul Tripathi in the second over. 

Things improved for the home team over the next few overs as both batsmen played with great composure and control. 

Tripathi was particularly dangerous and before long reached his first fifty of the season. He dominated the stand with Rahane with 62 runs. 

The 99-run stand ended in the 14th over with the departure of Rahane for 33 off the bowling of the in-form Umesh Yadav.

And then right off the next ball, Sanju Samson departed for a first-ball duck. 

These two wickets greatly compromised RR's aspirations.

Thereafter the RCB bowlers took complete charge of the proceedings.

Tripathi (80 not out off 58 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (32 off 21 balls) added 48 runs for the fifth wicket but they also scoffed 34 balls in the process.

Tripathi overall put on view a great batting display but he slowed down terribly after reaching 60 or so.

Gowtham, however, hit two sixes in the last over to brighten things up a little for the hosts.        

Umesh was the pick of the RCB bowlers with figures of 3/25 and the fact that hosts were 15-20 runs short was largely his doing.

Be that as it may, 164/5 proved to be enough for RR as the RCB batsmen came a cropper in their chase.

It was RR's seventh win in 14 games.