Rajasthan Royals’ Donovan Ferreira smashed an 11-ball 38* to guide the side’s score beyond the 200-run mark. The Royals were up against the Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 2 of the season at the New Chandigarh Stadium. The winning team was slated to advance to book a Finale date with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who recorded a blowout win over the Titans in Q1 to secure a direct seed. The Royals skipper, Riyan Parag, chose to bat first in a controversial toss and got off to a disastrous start.

The inaugural-season winners, who entered the game on the back of a commanding win over the SunRisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator, got off to a horrid start. They lost their opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal on one run, before Dhruv Jurel was forced to walk back on seven runs in six balls. While Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Ravindra Jadeja stood firm, the dramatic middle-order batting collapse left the Royals hanging in the game for a while.

Hopes for RR kept getting slimmer following Sooryvanshi’s heartbreaking dismissal at 96, but Donovan Ferreira came up with a key 11-ball 38 cameo to push the side beyond 200.

Donovan Ferreira’s unbeaten 38-run cameo pushes Royals beyond 200

Ferreira came in to bat at eighth, and went all guns blazing right from the beginning and hit four sixes in the last over to not only post 38* runs, but also push the side beyond 200. The Royals put up a competitive total of 214 runs with the loss of six wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja remained not out at 45 in 35 deliveries.

Apart from his onslaught, skipper Riyan Parag posted 11 runs off six balls, Dasun Shanaka came up with three runs in nine deliveries, whereas Jofra Archer added seven runs off four balls.