RCB bounced back hard, after the defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders, to beat Lucknow Super Giants in Match 43 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
The away team Produced a magnificent bowling and fielding performance as they defended 126 runs in an electric performance in Lucknow. Faf du Plessis’ 44 off 40 and Virat Kohli’s 31 off 30 had helped RCB post 126/9. A collective bowling performance then saw the bowlers bowl with discipline and pick up regular wickets, ably supported by the fielders who pulled off brilliant catches, stumping and run outs, to bowl LSG out for 108 and win by 18 runs.
Chasing 127, Lucknow Super Giants were rocked early as they lost Kyle Mayers early. The LSG opener mistimed his heave to mid on where Suyash Prabhudessai made no mistake. Josh Hazlewood then bowled a fantastic second over which saw Impact Player Ayush play and miss multiple times. He gave away just one but Krunal Pandya released the pressure in style in the next over, cracking three consecutive fours off Siraj to make it 16 off the third over. Krunal though couldn’t continue for long as he chipped one straight into the hands of Virat Kohli at long off to give Glenn Maxwell a wicket in his first over.
Hazlewood struck in his next over, having Badoni (4 off 11) caught at short extra cover as Kohli pulled off a very good reflex catch to reduce LSG to 21/3.
Wanindu Hasarange made it three wickets in three overs for RCB as he had Deepak Hooda stumped with Karthik showing good presence of mind. Nichoolas Pooran got off the mark with a huge six first ball but it was RCB’s Powerplay all the way as LSG hobbled to 34/4 at the end of first six overs.
Karn Sharma joined the wicket taking party, having Pooran (9 off 7) caught at deep square leg off a mistimed slog sweep as LSG lost half their side inside seven overs.
K Gowtham then provided a bit of relief, cracking a six and a four off Karn Sharma with LSG bringing up the fifty in the 9th over. Gowtham hit another six in the next over, lofting one straight down the ground off Hasaranga to reach 63/5 at the halfway mark. RCB introduced Harshal Patel as their Impact Player, replacing Anuj Rawat, at the start of the 11th over. LSG were then dealt with a huge blow as Stoinis (13 off 19) mistimed his loft to long off, off Karn Sharma and departed and three balls later Gowtham (23 off 13) too walked back to the hut, run out, trying to complete a second run. Three overs later, LSG suffered another run out as Bishoni(5 off 10) was caught well short on the second run. As the wickets kept falling the required rate kept climbing.
LSG went six overs without a boundary before Mishra got an outside edge to third man for a streaky four in the 17th over and Naveen-ul-Haq thumped one over extra cover another four in the next over to bring the equation to 31 needed off 12 balls.
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Naveen got another four in the next over, off an inside edge wide of the short fine leg, trying to go for a reverse scoop but he departed next ball, caught behind off Hazlewood. The injured KL Rahul walked out to bat with 24 needed off 8 but he couldn’t pull off the heist as RCB bowled LSG out for 108 with Harshal taking the final wicket of Amit Mishra.
Earlier, Faf du Plessis, who was back leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore side, won the toss and elected to bat. They made four changes to the starting XI as Faf du Plessis, Josh Hazlewood, Anuj Rawat and Karn Sharma replaced Shahbaz Ahmed, David Willey, Harshal Patel and Vijaykumar Vyshak. They named Harshal Patel, Sonu Yadav, Michael Bracewell, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Shahbaz Ahmed as their substitutes.
Lucknow Super Giants made two changes to the starting eleven as K Gowtham and Amit Mishra replaced Ayush Badoni and Avesh Khan. They named Ayush Badoni, Daniel Sams, Quinton de Kock, Prerak Mankad and Avesh Khan as their substitutes.
Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis got RCB off to a steady start but the Lucknow Super Giants made sure they kept the boundary count in check as they conceded just three fours and a six in the Powerplay. RCB reached 42/0 at the end of the first six overs. It was a mixed phase for both the teams but LSG were dealt with a blow as KL Rahul had to leave the field because of a leg injury suffered while trying to save a four in the second over.
Things further slowed down as RCB went boundary-less for the next three overs. Kohli finally broke the shackles to hit a beautiful cover drive for four off Yash Thakur for a boundary after 23 balls. LSG reaped the rewards of building the pressure as Ravi Bishnoi had Kohli (31 off 30) stumped trying to charge down the track but missing his swing. The next two overs brought just nine runs and then another batter walked back trying to up the scoring as Anuj Rawat (9 off 11) pulled one straight into the hands of the deep mid-wicket fielder.
Bishnoi struck another crucial blow in the next over as he trapped Glenn Maxwell (4 off 5) LBW after the RCB batter missed his reverse sweep. Maxwell reviewed it but the ball tracking showed it was clipping the top of stumps. The umpire’s call stayed as Maxwell walked back.
Two overs later, another RCB batter walked back to the hut as Amit Mishra had Suyash Prabhudessai (6 off 7) caught at long off by K Gowtham. The fielder misjudged it at first but made a good adjustment to dive forward and pouch it inches above the ground. Rain then interrupted play before Karthik upped the ante with a four and a six off Naveen-ul-Haq and Amit Mishra respectively post the resumption. Mishra struck back in the same over as he made Du Plessis (44 off 40), who had held fort at one end, miscue one off a slog sweep and Krunal Pandya grabbed a fantastic catch. Naveen then trapped Mahipal Lomror (3 off 3) LBW as wickets kept tumbling for RCB. Yash Thakur then produced another moment of brilliance in the field as he ran out Karthik off his own bowling via a brilliant reflex fielding effort and knocking down the stumps at the non-striker’s end.
Naveen then finished it off well, picking up two wickets – of Karn Sharma and Mohd. Siraj – and giving away just six runs as RCB trudged to 126/9 at the end of the 20 overs. RCB hit just six fours and two sixes in their entire innings with du Plessis top-scoring with 44 off 40.
LSG introduced Ayush Badoni, who walked out to open the batting with Kyle Mayers, as their Impact Player in place of Yash Thakur.
