Krunal and Bhuvneshwar floor MI in Raipur as RCB sneak home off the last ball
Royal Challengers Bengaluru clinched a two-wicket win off the last ball at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, eliminating Mumbai Indians from the IPL 2026 playoff race in a chase that ran out of overs three times before Bhuvneshwar Kumar's six over long-off and a Rasikh Salam double scrambled the result over the line.
RCB had been set 167 by an MI side that lost three for 28 in the powerplay, recovered through Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir, then closed the innings with the kind of total a Raipur surface can defend if its bowlers find the right lengths. By the time Rasikh and Bhuvneshwar were running across for the winning two, Mumbai's season had quietly slid past the point of mathematical return.
Bhuvneshwar's three in three changes the night
The match's first defining passage came inside the first three overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had Ryan Rickelton caught at mid-off on the last ball of the opening over, and when Suryakumar Yadav stayed up the order in Hardik Pandya's continued absence with back spasms, the swap backfired immediately. Bhuvneshwar removed Rohit Sharma for 22 off 11 with a full ball that nipped back, then knocked over Suryakumar first ball to leave MI 28 for three after three overs and three of the top four already gone.
Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir built it back from there. Tilak's 57 off 42 and Dhir's 47 off 32 dragged the innings out of its hole and into a position where 170-plus felt within reach, but Bhuvneshwar returned in the 18th to dismiss Tilak and pull MI back into the lower 150s. The last two overs leaked only 11 runs for one more wicket. Final figures of four for 23 in four overs, three of them in the powerplay, and Bhuvneshwar's case for the player of the match was sealed before RCB had even walked out to bat.
Krunal carries the chase, then the cramps catch up
RCB's reply opened with Virat Kohli caught at mid-off off Deepak Chahar for a golden duck, the kind of dismissal that on most nights flattens the chasing side. Instead it brought Krunal Pandya in early at five, and from there the night became his.
Krunal's 73 off 46 was a paced innings, not a violent one. He took the powerplay risks the top order had refused to take, then settled into the middle overs by working the spinners around. Visibly cramping by the 17th, he gambled on going aerial and hit two big sixes off AM Ghazanfar to pull the equation back inside reach. He had already escaped one chance, with Naman Dhir taking it cleanly at deep midwicket but lobbing it to Tilak Varma at long-on, where Tilak could not gather it before stepping over the rope. The reprieve lasted three balls. Tilak got under another Krunal slog at long-on, sprinted to his left, and held on inside the rope at the second attempt with RCB still needing 30 off 17.
Bumrah's 19th left them 15 off the last over, and that final over, bowled by Raj Bawa, was a small disaster of its own. A wide and a no-ball gave RCB free runs before any legal ball had been delivered, then Romario Shepherd missed a full ball first up and edged the second to Tilak Varma at backward point. Bhuvneshwar walked in with the chase still to be won and watched another Bawa wide drift past, then carved a yorker over a leaping Naman Dhir for six off the fourth legal delivery. A single off the fifth put Rasikh Salam on strike, and the all-rounder pushed Bawa back past the bowler with soft hands. Bawa got a hand to it, could not stop it, and Rasikh and Bhuvneshwar scrambled back for the second.
Mumbai's exit, and what it leaves at the top
Mumbai become the second side after Lucknow Super Giants to be mathematically out of the IPL 2026 playoffs. With three games still to play they cannot reach the points total the qualification cut-off has settled at, and a campaign that had Hardik Pandya's fitness and Suryakumar's stand-in captaincy as its two biggest open questions ends with both still unresolved.
The win pushes RCB level with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans on 14 points but ahead of both on net run rate, lifting them to the top of the table. The chasing pack at 12 still includes Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals; the gap to the second-tier hopefuls has not closed; what has changed is that Bengaluru's defence of their title has gone from dependent on results elsewhere to back in their own hands.
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