Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans 162 (Tewatia 68, Duffy 3-39, Krunal 2-16) by 92 runs at 254 for 5 (Patidar 93*, Kohli 43, Holder 2-39, Rabada 2-54).
With the fastest innings of 90 or more in the IPL, Rajat Patidar guided the reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) into the final. He scored a delightful unbeaten 93 off 33 to lead his team to 254 for 5, the highest total in an IPL playoff, against Gujarat Titans (GT), the tournament's best attack. GT still has an opportunity to advance to the final at their home field in Ahmedabad in Qualifier 2 after finishing in the top two. They will have to wait to see who wins the Eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.

Despite missing the injured Phil Salt, RCB, who were asked to bat first in the chase-friendly Dharamsala, came out full of talent and intent. However, GT almost managed to sneak back in with a span of 22 balls, 18 runs, and two wickets of set batters in a single Jason Holder over. The opposing end, with extras, delivered 68 off 37 legal deliveries during the period when Patidar scored 93 off 33.
GT needed something exceptional because they had never scored more than 233, and only Jos Buttler, with 29 off 11, came near. During the powerplay, the RCB fast bowlers destroyed half the team.

No salt, no issue
Although Salt's return would have been greatly appreciated by RCB, his absence allowed them to use Jacob Duffy as their fourth foreign player. With two fours off the opening two balls of the innings, Venkatesh Iyer moved around the crease in an attempt to manipulate the GT fast bowlers' lengths. Virat Kohli needed four balls to lay bat on Kagiso Rabada's hard lengths, but despite getting into a tangle, Venkatesh hammered him for a six first ball.
The replacement opener had done his job with 19 off seven even though Rabada returned right away with Venkatesh's wicket. Kohli rushed at Siraj and drove him over mid-off as soon as the wicket was taken.

For the first time in eight games, GT was forced to abandon bowling Siraj and Rabada on the powerplay.
The return of GT
Rashid Khan and Holder worked together to get GT back into the race. Rashid bowled his first two overs for no boundaries, but Holder continued to attack the hard lengths. Holder was able to dismiss Kohli and Padikkal for 43 off 25 and 30 off 19 in between. Not long innings, but ones that grasped the task.
The blinder from Patidar
In order to retain excellent points of entry for Tim David and Jitesh Sharma, RCB promoted Krunal Pandya after going crazy with their selection, leaving Romario Shepherd out of the batting-first XI so they could play an extra bowler if Shepherd wasn't needed.With a pulled six off a Holder ball that wasn't quite short enough, Patidar ended the spell off 22 quiet balls. Prasidh Krishna created two opportunities in the fourteenth over following a boundary-free first over from Kulwant Khejroliya, who was playing his first Twenty20 match since last April. The first one, the leading edge, landed between the deep third and the converging wicketkeeper. The second one was dropped with Patidar on 26 off 20, but it went directly to Rabada at deep square leg. The last time you could say the game was even was when RCB were an even 140 for 3 at the end of the 14th over.
The floodgates opened for 114 runs in the final six overs when Khejroliya produced no balls in the fifteenth over.

Patidar skilfully guided a slow bouncer over short fine with a delayed hook after the GT bowlers failed to attempt a rapid bouncer at him. Even a century appeared possible at one point, but he didn't quite get enough strike.
The collapse of the GT
B Sai Sudharsan struck Duffy for two fours to start both innings of an IPL match for the first time ever, but the GT openers were less effective than the RCB top order at upsetting the bowlers' lengths. Both Sudharsan and Shubman Gill attempted to charge at Bhuvneshwar, but they were only able to score two runs in his opening over.The first wicket came in an unusual way when Sudharsan lost his bat while cutting Duffy away for four, despite the increasing strain. Before the ball could get to the barrier, the bat ricocheted onto the leg stump. Then, Bhuvneshwar continued to dominate Gill by giving him a leg stump with a wobble-seam delivery. With six wickets in 79 balls for just 80 runs, Bhuvneshwar is currently leading the head-to-head match.
With no other choice, Josh Hazlewood defeated Buttler with a knuckle-ball legcutter. Buttler came out swinging and appeared threatening. The remainder was always going to be formal, but RCB executed it elegantly. Nishant Sindhu and Jason Holder were removed by Rasikh Salam's double-wicket maiden, leaving GT five down during the powerplay.