Any hopes Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had of qualifying for the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) play-offs virtually ended after they lost by 61 runs to Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here yesterday.
The Bangalore franchise has lost seven of their 10 outings so far to be virtually knocked out of the race for the play-offs. Pune, on the other hand kept their play-off dreams alive to stay at the fourth spot after registering their fifth win from nine matches.
Chasing a decent 158, RCB were in self-destructive mode losing wickets at regular intervals with skipper Virat Kohli (55) fighting a lone battle to take the team through.
Earlier, Pune rode on skipper Smith’s 45 and Manoj Tiwary’s unbeaten 44 to reach 157 for 3 after being sent in to bat. The home side failed to find the momentum against the RCB bowlers, who stuck to a perfect line and length as the last five overs yielded just 46 runs for the home side.
Struggling to find the momentum at 115 for 3 after 16 overs, Pune needed Mahendra Singh Dhoni (21 not out) and Tiwary to press on the accelerator.

BRIEF SCORES: Rising Pune Supergiant 157 for 3 (Smith 45, Tiwary 44 not out) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 96 for 9 (Kohli 55; Ferguson 2-7) by 61 runs