Lucknow Super Giants made it two wins in a row as they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by one wicket in a thrilling Match 15 of TATA IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Bengaluru was hit by Marcus Stoinis (65 off 30) and Nicholas Pooran (62 off 19) storms as the two helped LSG pull off a sensational chase in a drama-filled last over after the RCB top order – Virat Kohli (61 off 44), Faf du Plessis(79* off 46), Glenn Maxwell (59 off 29) – had propelled them to 212/2.
Chasing 213, Lucknow Super Giants were jolted early as Mohd. Siraj made the in-form Kyle Mayers drag one onto the stumps off just the third ball of the innings. The RCB bowlers bowled with discipline and were richly rewarded as Wayne Parnell had Deepak Hooda (9 off 10) and Krunal Pandya (0 off 2) both caught behind in the fourth over to reduce LSG to 23/3. LSG could have lost Marcus Stoinis as well in the Powerplay but Siraj dropped a touch catch off David Willey in the next over. LSG hobbled their way to 37/3 at the end of Powerplay.
With the required run-rate going over 13, Stoinis finally upped the scoring as he cracked two fours and a six off Harshal and then welcomed Karn Sharma into the attack with two fours and a six again. to amass 33 off two overs.
Stoinis got to his fifty off 25 balls with another six, off Shahbaz Ahmed. And he hit another one in the over, tonking it over deep mid-wicket as LSG reached 91/3 at the halfway mark.
Impact Player Karn Sharma too got hit for a six in his next over but he bounced back to get the HUGE wicket of Stoinis (65 off 30) caught at deep cover two balls later.
KL Rahul (18 off 20), who was watching Stoinis go berserk from the other end, then looked to get going but ended up flicking one straight to Kohli at deep square leg, off Siraj in the next over.
Nicholas Pooran and Impact Player Ayush Badoni though carried forward the momentum provided by Stoinis and went on a boundary hitting spree. The duo went after Karn Sharma, taking him for 20 off the 13th over to bring the equation down to 77 from 42 balls.
Pooran was dealing in sixes as he hit two more along with a four off Harshal to make it 18 off the 14th over and bring the required run-rate under 10. His first 13 balls included five sixes and three fours. He brought up his fifty off just 15 balls with a fantastic six down the ground, off Parnell. It’s the fastest fifty of the season so far. The next ball was cracked for a four through backward point as the equation came down to 42 needed off 30 balls. The boundaries continued to flow as Badoni steered one to third man for a four off Willey and Pooran swung one over deep square leg for yet another six to get the equation down to 28 off 24.
Siraj then came back to bowl a brilliant over as he had the dangerman Pooran (62 off 19) caught at fine leg with a full toss, and gave away just four runs. Pooran’s 62-run innings included seven sixes and four fours.
With 24 needed off 18, Badoni, who was playing a very sensible innings at the other end, and Jaydev Unadkat added 17 off 10 balls before Badoni was out hit wicket trying to ramp one over fine leg. He connected it well and hit it over the ropes but ended up flicking his bat onto the stumps, off Parnell. The equation came down to 5 off the last over and RCB were hit by the over-rate penalty and they were allowed only four fielders outside the circle.
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Unadkat took a single off the first ball of the last over from Harshal. But Harshal’s dipping slower delivery did the trick off the next ball as he castled Wood for 1. Bishnoi came to the crease with four needed off four and placed one sensibly in the gap at point and scampered through for two. He then pulled the next one to fine leg for a single to level the scores.
The drama wasn’t over yet as with one needed off two, Unadkat hit one uppishly straight to long on where Du Plessis pouched a juggling catch. With one needed off one, Harshal Patel tried to run out Bishnoi, who had ventured out of his crease, at the non-striker’s end but he missed the stumps and a golden opportunity. Avesh Khan then missed his swing as Harshal finally delivered the last ball, a slower dipping one, and the keeper Dinesh Karthik fumbled as the batters scampered through for a bye to win it for LSG.
Earlier, Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul won the toss and elected to bowl. They made two changes to the starting eleven as Avesh Khan and Mark Wood replaced Yash Thakur and Romario Shepherd. They named Ayush Badoni, Daniel Sams, K Gowtham, Prerak Mankad and Swapnil Singh as their substitutes.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, made three changes to the starting XI as Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror and Wayne Parnell replaced Karn Sharma, Akash Deep and Michael Bracewell. They named Karn Sharma, Suyash Prabhudessai, Akash Deep, Sonu Yadav and Michael Bracewell as their substitutes.
Virat Kohli got RCB off to a breezy start with his aggressive strokeplay. He took the attacking approach right from the start and played some sublime strokes. He hit the first boundary of the innings as he looked to pull one off Avesh Khan but got a top edge over the keeper’s head for a six. He middled the next one though, punching it over covers for an authoritative four as RCB amassed 13 from the second over.
Faf du Plessis opened his boundary account as he lofted one wide of mid on for a four. Kohli continued to attack Avesh as he thumped one through extra cover for a four and drove one through covers for another well-timed four. The former RCB captain hit his second six of the innings by thumping one over long on, off Krunal Pandya. He then took on Mark Wood as he made room and lofted one over mid off for a four and then smacked a pull over deep mid-wicket for a six next ball to bring up the 50-run opening stand off 33 balls. RCB reached 56/0 at the end of the Powerplay.
Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya pulled things back a bit with three disciplined overs going for just 18 runs. In between, Kohli brought up his fifty off 35 balls with a single off Bishnoi. He finally broke the boundary drought, hammering one over deep mid-wicket for a six off Krunal and Faf du Plessis followed it up with a four in the same region in the same over as RCB reached 87/0 at the end of 10 overs.
KL Rahul then introduced Amit mishra into the attack and the veteran spinner finally broke the 96-run opening stand as he had Kohli (61 off 44) caught at deep mid-wicket with a quicker short delivery off just the third ball of his spell. Wood followed up with a maiden in the 13th over.
Maxwell and Faf dU Plessis then hit the fifth gear as Maxwell went after Mishra and hit him for a four and a six and then the duo hit three sixes off Bishnoi to make it 20 off the over.
Du Plessis brought up his fifty off 35 balls as he lofted one over long off for a six, off Wood.
LSG brought on Ayush Badoni as their Impact Player in the 17th over, in place of Amit Mishra.
Maxwell continued to attack, hitting a six and four off Avesh Khan. He and Faf went after Unadkat and hit two fours and two sixes to hammer 23 off the over and in between Maxwell got a life as he was dropped at third man by Krunal Pandya.
Maxwell brought up his fifty in style, off just 24 balls as he smacked consecutive sixes off Avesh Khan. The pair brought up the 100-run stand off just 44 balls.
Maxwell hit a six off Wood in the last over but the pacer bounced back to knock down his leg stump off the next ball. Maxwell walked off to a standing ovation for an exhilarating 59 off 29 balls. RCB posted 212/2 from their 20 overs. They hammered 108 runs off the last 7 overs. Faf du Plessis remained unbeaten on 79(46).
RCB introduced Karn Sharma as their Impact Player, replacing Anuj Rawat at the start of their bowling innings.
