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RCB roar into IPL final with eight-wicket win over Punjab Kings

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru returned to the Indian Premier League final for the first time since 2016 with a dominant eight-wicket defeat of Punjab Kings in Thursday's first qualifier.

RCB are three-time runners-up and will now get a long-awaited fourth shot at a maiden IPL title after winning with 10 overs to spare.

The Kings were put in to bat and immediately adopted an aggressive approach that would prove their undoing as they were all out for 101 in 14.1 overs.

Four wickets had gone for 48 runs by the end of the powerplay, with Josh Hazlewood taking two on his return from more than a month out through injury.

Hazlewood finished with figures of 3-21, while spinner Suyash Sharma (3-17) also starred, dashing his opponents' hopes of an unlikely recovery as leading scorer Marcus Stoinis departed for 26.

The efforts of the RCB bowlers ensured a routine run chase, even if the pitch continued to cause the batters some issues in the second innings.

The exception was Phil Salt, whose unbeaten 56 from 27 balls made up his fastest IPL fifty and did the heavy lifting as RCB reached 106-2 and Tuesday's final.

Punjab Kings will hope to get an opportunity to make amends in that showpiece after facing either Gujarat Titans or Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier.

Data Debrief: Hazlewood heroics resume

RCB had finished second to Punjab Kings in the league stage but did so after playing four matches without Hazlewood.

Despite that, Hazlewood's three wickets here took him to 21 for the tournament. Only two players have more in the chase for the purple cap, but both Noor Ahmad (24) and Prasidh Krishna (23) played in every match of the league stage.

Indeed, Hazlewood's average of 15.80 is second only to Jasprit Bumrah (14.64) among those who have bowled two or more full overs.

With Hazlewood leading the quicks and Suyash again showing his promise, RCB have an attack primed to punish the sort of naive batting performance Punjab put in on Thursday, recording the IPL's biggest play-off win by balls remaining.