Image source, Reuters

Royal Challengers Bengaluru condemned Punjab Kings to a sixth successive defeat to become the first team to qualify for the Indian Premier League play-offs.

Virat Kohli struck 58 and Venkatesh Iyer top-scored with 73 not out as the league leaders posted 222-4 having been put into bat.

Jacob Bethell’s lean run continued as he was bowled for 11 by Harpreet Brar, but Devdutt Padikkal added 45 and Tim David posted an unbeaten 28 from 12 balls.

Kings fell to 19-3 in reply as Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed for a duck, two and one respectively.

They rebuilt from that point, with Shashank Singh top-scoring with 56 from 27 balls at number seven, but remained some way off the rate and finished on 199-8, losing by 23 runs.

In Sunday’s second fixture, Delhi Capitals kept their hopes of reaching the play-offs alive with a five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hit 46 and Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag hit 53 and 51 respectively as Royals started strongly after being put into bat.

The visitors were 161-2 in the 15th over when Mitchell Starc shifted the momentum in favour of Capitals, removing Parag and Donovan Ferreira with successive deliveries and trapping Ravi Singh lbw two balls later.

Royals ultimately lost six wickets for 30 runs, with Starc taking 4-40, closing on 193-8.

Abishek Porel (51) and KL Rahul (56) put on an opening stand of 105 in the Capitals reply, while captain Axar Patel scored an unbeaten 34 as they chased down their target with four balls to spare.

Seventh-placed Capitals move level with their opponents and Chennai Super Kings on 12 points, while Punjab Kings are one point ahead and occupy the final play-off spot.

Kings and and Capitals now have only one fixture remaining, with Super Kings and and Royals have two to play.

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