On a frantic evening when most of the focus was on the Mumbai Indians versus Sunrisers Hyderabad, table-toppers Delhi Capitals and third-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore met each other in Dubai for their last match of the league stage.
Bangalore had an outside chance of making it to Qualifier 1 if they batted first. That ended the moment Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bowl. Both teams went with unchanged XIs.
The Delhi openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw, played aggressively. Both played some brilliant shots as none of the Bangalore bowlers made an impact. They raced to 88 in the first 10 overs before Harshal Patel provided the first blow: Dhawan mistimed a slower ball to be caught by Dan Christian for 43. In the next over, Shaw was caught by George Garton off Yuzvendra Chahal. A tumbling catch from Garton deprived him of a well-deserved fifty.
That was the turning point of the match as RCB bowled brilliantly with the old ball. Christian got the all-important wicket of Pant, while Shreyas Iyer failed to push the run rate. Mohammed Siraj bowled two important overs at the death and dismissed Iyer for a labored 18-ball 18. Shimron Hetmyer hit some lofty blows to score 29 in 22 balls. His two sixes helped Delhi cross 150. He fell off the last ball, trying to hit a six.
Delhi finished on 164/5. Siraj took 2-25, while Patel's wicket took him closer to Dwayne Bravo's record of 32 wickets. Chahal and Christian took a wicket each as well.
RCB faltered in the chase. They lost Devdutt Padikkal for a duck in the first over. By the first ball of the third over, Kohli was also dismissed for 4. Both wickets went to Anrich Nortje. Bangalore tweaked their batting order, promoting K.S. Bharat to No. 3, followed by A.B. de Villiers. They added 49. When de Villiers fell for a 26-ball 26, Bangalore needed 110 in 63 balls.
But at this point, Delhi let the game slip away. The fielding lost intensity as they dropped three catches in the space of eight balls. Glenn Maxwell exploded from the start, reverse sweeping and pulling with ease. Refusing to be left behind, Bharat played some breathtaking shots as well. He reached his fifty, and celebrated it with a six off Kagiso Rabada. Runs started to come more freely, and they had all seven wickets in hand when they needed 19 in the last two overs.
Nortje (2-24) then conceded just four runs in the 19th over, leaving Avesh Khan to defend 15. Maxwell took four and two off the first two balls reach his sixth fifty of the season, but three tight deliveries left Bharat to score six off the last ball.
Avesh's attempted yorker resulted in a wide down leg side. With five runs left, Bharat hit a huge six over the long-on to take Bangalore to victory as he finished with his highest T20 score of 78.
Delhi will now play the Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1, while Bangalore will meet Kolkata in the Eliminator.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 164/5 in 20 overs (Shaw 48; Siraj 2-25) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 166/3 in 20 overs (Bharat 78*; Nortje 2-24) by 7 wickets with 0 balls to spare. Player of the Match: K.S. Bharat.