RCB 200/7 after 20 overs (I Abdulla 4 off 2 | S Baby 18 off 10 || lose by 8 runs)

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar with the final over of IPL 2016.

Begins with a full-toss, which is as good as the yorker he just missed. Jordan gets a taste of his own medicine, as he ekes it out to Long-on for a single. 17 needed off 5 balls.

Baby gets another low full-toss, scooped over Short Fine-leg for 2 runs. 15 needed off 4 balls.

Now, Bhuvi gets his yorker right. Just outside off, and Jordan can’t get any bat on it. But he sets off on a suicidal run. And he is gone run-out by miles as Ojha breaks the stumps. More importantly, dot ball. 15 STILL needed from 3 balls.

Iqbal Abdulla can only pad the full-toss away as Warner lets out a furious whoop. And they run through for a leg bye. This is tough, for RCB, now. Tough to digest, that is. Near impossible to win. 14 needed from 2 balls.

Another full delivery from Bhuvi. Baby gets a run down to Short Third-man, and Warner is now red as a tomato and jubilant as a winning captain. 13 needed from 1 ball (not that it matters any more).

Abdulla scoops that full-toss for four down Fine-leg. But that’s still 8 runs short. And Baby is devastated.

And that’s a historic victory for Sunrisers. And Warner is going to burst a blood vessel at some point tonight!

RCB 191/6 after 19 overs (C Jordan 2 off 3 | S Baby 15 off 7 || need 18 from 6 balls)

The Fizz has to stick to his guns this over, and RCB are all but gone.

First ball, and Binny (9 from 7) is run-out. His long-handle was the one thing that stood between Sunrisers and a demolition. Now, that has gone as Deepak Hooda gets a superb throw in from Long-on. Chris Jordan walks in, tittering with nervous energy.

And he is dropped! Jordan slices it skywards at Extra Cover, and Sran staggers backwards, tries to cup his hands Aussie-style, and the ball pops out into the grass. Warner is sliding around in the grass, intensely desperate to win this, riding the boundary with expertis. But Baby ends the over with a giantsix. 12 runs.

RCB 179/5 after 18 overs (S Binny 8 off 6 | S Baby 7 off 5 || need 30 from 12 balls)

Bhuvi bowls an entire over of yorkers. A full over. 6 balls, 6 yorkers. Although the last one was more a low full-toss, and Sachin Baby reverse-laps it for four.

RCB 172/5 after 17 overs (S Binny 7 off 2 | S Baby 2 off 3 || need 37 from 18 balls)

The Fizz.

Now, Watson (11 from 9) has let it go, as Mustafizur bowls a off-cutter on length, that the Aussie can only slice straight up and down to Extra Cover.

And Stuart Binny now, their last hope, I would think. Straightaway, he has whipped it over Long-on for asix. 10 runs off it. But the RRR is 12.33. What a steep target this is.

RCB 162/4 after 16 overs (S Watson 9 off 6 | S Baby 1 off 2 || need 47 from 24 balls)

Ben Cutting.

Oh no no. Rahul (11 from 9) chooses the worst time to bring out a brute slog-shot, swish all over it, and hear the ball crash into the stumps. Cutting doing it here for Sunrisers. They are now back in it. With the RRR creeping up with every ball, every wicket will just dilate that chasm. What a turnaround in the last couple of overs.

RCB 158/3 after 15 overs (S Watson 7 off 4 | KL Rahul 10 off 7 || need 51 from 30 balls)

Henriques back. Good changes of pace. But Watson latches on to the fifth delivery, and tonks it straight above Henriques’ head for six. 9 runs off the over. And RCB now need to take care to keep the momentum going. In all the ferocity and fury gone by, it’s easy to forget that the target is a massive 209. Required Run-Rate is 10.20, mate.

RCB 149/3 after 14 overs (S Watson 0 off 0 | KL Rahul 8 off 5)

Bipul stays on.

Rahul now. My goodness, this team has one devastating batsman after another. A sweetly-timed sweep shot thuds into the Square-leg fence for four.

And another strike. ABD (5 from 6) won’t be giving us any more unfathomable pyrotechnics this season, as he slices an off-break off good-length high into the air and into Henriques’ cupped hands. His face fell as soon as he miscued it.

RCB 141/2 after 13 overs (AB de Villiers 4 off 4 | KL Rahul 1 off 1)

Sran.

And now, it’s a fifty for Kohli, with the classiest of lofted drives for six you’ll ever see. Beautiful inside-out shot. No respite. There’s a small matter of 1,000 runs for Kohli this IPL season. Looks good for it, I reckon.

Oh oh. Oh oh. Not so fast, Hope. Sran has his man. Kohli (54 from 35) is devastated as steps out but gets an inside-edge, and the back-of-length delivery clips his bails off. *sheds a tear for each of the 27 runs left unsmacked*.

RCB 129/1 after 12 overs (AB de Villiers 3 off 3 | V Kohli 44 off 31)

Bipul Sharma, shielded so far from Gayle, will come on with his some left-arm spin now.

Kohli rocks back and pulls him away through Midwicket for four. I repeat. Nobody. Is. Safe.

RCB 120/1 after 11 overs (AB de Villiers 0 off 0 | V Kohli 38 off 28)

Cutting in for more torture. It’s almost masochism to bowl here tonight.

And straight away, a chance. A thick-edge flies off Kohli’s bat, but Mustafizur can’t shift his forward momentum soon enough to lay hands on that as it bobs up over him. And aha! Gayle (76 from 38) is finally cut down. Cutting has done the trick with a cutter, getting the big man to swing at it and toe-end it to Third-man.

Woof. That was pure carnage brought to a close. And a hush descends. More out of respect than anything. And then, the hush is no more, as chants of ABD fill the air. Oh, right. I forgot. RCB bat deep. Real deep.

Kohli steers it through Third-man for a four. Don’t forget, he seems to be saying. I am here. Gayle was just the sideshow, a distraction. Some distraction, that was, then.

RCB 112/0 after 10 overs (C Gayle 75 off 36 | V Kohli 31 off 24)

Now, Kohli decides it’s just not fair that the Fizz has the upper hand. Dances down the track and hacks afour away on the off-side. And then strikes it over Long-off for a six. Take cover, folks. No one is safe here tonight. Not even Mustafizur.

But he comes back with a bouncer, a yorker, and a cutter worth your money. Damage limited to 12 runs.

RCB 100/0 after 9 overs (C Gayle 74 off 34 | V Kohli 20 off 20)

Wait, there’s a man called Kohli playing this match? I didn’t even know. Well, lest we forget him, the RCB captain now carts Henriques for a lofted four over Cover. And.... then it’s right back to Gayle. Asixer over Long-off. A sixer over Midwicket. A four over Cover. Humongous over. 21 runs.

RCB were saving this man up for today.

RCB 79/0 after 8 overs (C Gayle 58 off 30 | V Kohli 15 off 18)

Cutting, you don’t bowl half-volleys to Chris Gayle. Well, you don’t bowl anywhere to him when he’s in this murderous mood, for that matter. But width and length will be dealt with outside the boundary, as Gayle pummels a straight six.

RCB 69/0 after 7 overs (C Gayle 51 off 27 | V Kohli 13 off 15)

Moises Henriques comes on and is bashed for a six over Long-on. And Gayle has raised his fifty. This is payback for him. All his defaulted payments flowing in with a vengeance. 10 runs off it.

RCB 59/0 after 6 overs (C Gayle 44 off 24 | V Kohli 10 off 12)

Mustafizur Rahman to bring some fizz back into the Sunrisers’ attack. Attack? So far, the attack has ensued from the batsmen — nay, batsman, nay, batsgiant.

And straight-away, a marked difference in the way the ball is treated. All of a sudden, Kohli gets a few balls to face as Gayle is kept at the non-striker’s. Then Gayle has to defend an LBW appeal with an inside-edge. A meagre 4 runs off the over. Class will come through. The Fizz has come as a speed-bump to the RCB racecar.

RCB 55/0 after 5 overs (C Gayle 43 off 22 | V Kohli 7 off 8)

Ben Cutting, the man. Can he cut the big tree down? (Everyone has been punning on Cutting’s name; I had to get mine in...)

Not unless he can position RCB men outside the boundary. Short ball, Gayle flicks &mdash