Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) needed 15 runs from the last over of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match against the Mumbai Indians (MI) to arrest their slip-up in the business end of the campaign. With Raj Bawa bowling the final over for MI, RCB had Romario Shepherd and Rasikh Salam Dar in the middle. The game went to the absolute last ball of the match, with RCB requiring two runs from the final delivery to win. The game would have gone to a Super Over if the throw from the fielder had been at the right end.
Raj Bawa, who started the final over on a disastrous note by bowling a wide and a no-ball, did not look to be in the best frame of mind throughout the over. The pacer ended up giving away five extras (four wides and a no-ball) at a time when every run mattered.
The final delivery he bowled to Rasikh saw the batter hit it straight at him, but a misfield saw the ball deflected towards the mid-on area. Likely lost in his failure to collect the ball, Bawa stood in the middle, not realising that the game could still be kept alive if it went to a Super Over.
With Bawa standing in the middle, and not at the bowler’s end, the fielder had to throw the ball to the wicket-keeper’s end. By the time the ball hit the gloves of the wicket-keeper, Rasikh had taken two runs to complete the run-chase.
In a video that has surfaced on social media, it can clearly be seen that the non-striker would have been short of the crease had the throw been aimed at the bowler’s end.
A wrong throw at one end, and Mumbai Indians lost the match. At the bowling end, if this fielder had thrown the ball, the batsman could have been easily run out. pic.twitter.com/Nl8pvGEpcf
—(@rushiii_12) May 10, 2026
Mumbai Indians’ stand-in captain, Suryakumar Yadav, was asked about Bawa being given the last over-a decision that seemed to have cost the franchise the game. He, however, refused to blame the youngster, saying he “almost pulled it off”.
“I think he’s been practising that really well throughout the season and last year also, and he was a completely different all-rounder when we saw him this year. So, going ahead with him for those one or two overs, and also taking that responsibility for the last over, he almost pulled it off for us,” Suryakumar said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
With this defeat, MI have officially been knocked out of the playoffs race. Along with them, Lucknow Super Giants have also been eliminated.
Featured Video Of The Day
IPL 2026 News | RCB Outplay CSK For 2nd Win On Trot, Ruturaj Gaikwad & Co Suffer 3rd Loss
Topics mentioned in this article