In a breathtaking twist of events during the IPL 2024 Eliminator Avesh Khan of Rajasthan Royals orchestrated a spectacular comeback against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by securing the pivotal dismissals of Dinesh Karthik and Mahipal Lomror in a thrilling final over. These crucial breakthroughs dashed RCBs hopes of a formidable conclusion leaving them yearning for a better result.
Avesh Khan initially delivered a slower delivery into the pitch, which Karthik attempted to flat-bat over mid-off. However, the ball became too big for the batsman, and he could only lob it high for Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made an excellent catch.
Mahipal Lomror then decided to bowl wide yorkers. Lomror attempted to slice a delivery from Avesh Khan behind the square but encountered the fielder in the point region.
While Lomror scored an impressive 32 off 17 balls, Karthik added 11 runs off 13 deliveries.
Here’s footage of both dismissals:
RCB finished on 172/8 in their 20 overs, which may not be regarded a par score considering the dew effect.
Avesh Khan came back brilliantly after a tough start
Avesh Khan gave away 36 runs in his first 13 balls and even the legendary Sunil Gavaskar remarked onair that the fast bowler seemed out of sync. Nevertheless he bounced back by taking the crucial wicket of the explosive Rajat Patidar who was dismissed after scoring 34 runs.
The RR bowler may feel unlucky that he was unable to dismiss Dinesh Karthik with the following ball. While the on-field umpire ruled DK to be LBW, a DRS review convinced the third umpire that the spike on the Ultra Edge was caused by the ball hitting the bat rather than the bat striking the pad.
Avesh had the final laugh, dismissing both Karthik and Lomror to end at 3/44. With Shimron Hetmyer returning, Rajasthan will like their chances of chasing down 173 and progressing to Qualifier 2.