Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis played fine innings of 96 runs off just 64 deliveries as Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 18 runs in Match 31 of IPL 2022 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Josh Hazlewood also made a notable contribution in the game as he took his best figures of 4/25 in the league. With that win, RCB moved to the second position in the points table with five victories and ten points to their name.
Earlier, Lucknow skipper KL Rahul invited RCB to bat first and Anuj Rawat made just four runs while Virat Kohli’s horror run in the tournament continued. The former skipper got out for a first-ball duck as Dushmantha Chameera dismissed the quality batter. RCB skipper Du Plessis then led his side from the front, but he missed his first IPL century by just four runs.
Glenn Maxwell amassed 23 runs while Shahbaz Ahmed mustered 26. Dinesh Karthik played a cameo (8-ball 13), which included a six to take RCB’s total to 181/6 in the 20 overs. Jason Holder was the pick of the bowlers for the Super Giants as he took 2/25 in his four-over spell.
In response, Hazlewood struck early jolts to Lucknow by removing Quinton de Kock for 3 and an out-of-form Manish Pandey for 6. Skipper Rahul scored 30 runs but unfortunately got out nicking the ball down the leg-side off Harshal Patel’s bowling. Krunal Pandya looked in great touch as the all-rounder made 42 runs off just 28 balls. Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni made some brief cameos with Marcus Stoinis getting dismissed for 24 runs by Hazlewood.
How does the Points Table stand?
With that comprehensive win against Lucknow Super Giants, Royal Challengers Bangalore are successfully placed at the second spot with the net run rate of +0.25 and ten points. Meanwhile, Lucknow has maintained its spot amongst the top four teams due to impressive past performance. They are currently at the fourth position with 8 points and a net run-rate of +0.124.
Today's match-up
Delhi Capitals will lock horns with Punjab Kings on April 20 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Both the teams are coming after losing their previous matches and will look to get back their winning ways.
What did the captains say?
The winning captain seems delighted with the way his team bounced back in the second innings and ensured victory for the side. "I got a few 96, and a 97, so hopefully a ton is around the corner," he said in the post-match presentation. Adding further, Faf who was seen satisfied with his performance said that he is happy to be able to follow his blueprints of batting.
"We need to just work on our strengths and we actually can get better in a few things. Need one guy to bat through consistently, but we haven't had that frequently. DK has saved us quite a bit, hopefully, today is a stepping stone in that direction," he concluded.
On the other hand, KL Rahul confessed that his bowlers conceded a few 15-20 runs extra and could not really squeeze in the middle. "We needed someone to anchor the innings for Lucknow till the end, as Faf did for Bangalore and unfortunately we couldn't do that," he added.