Navi Mumbai: A fine knock by Faf du Plessis (96 off 64) followed by a sensational bowling effort by Josh Hazlewood (4/25) led Royal Challengers Bangalore to a hard-fought 18-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL 2022 match at the D.Y. Patil Stadium, here.
It was RCB’s fifth win in the ongoing IPL season and they jumped up to the second spot on the table with 10 points.
Leading from the front, skipper du Plessis played a terrific knock (96 off 64) and steered Royal Challengers Bangalore to 181-6 in 20 overs. Invited to bat first, RCB were off to a terrible start as they lost three wickets — Anuj Rawat (4), Virat Kohli (0) and Glenn Maxwell (23) inside the powerplay. At 44/3 after 5.2 overs, RCB were in a spot of bother but du Plessis took on the mantle of batting through the innings.
He anchored the innings to perfection by stitching together a crucial 70-run stand for the fifth wicket with Shahbaz Ahmed (26) and a 49-run partnership with Dinesh Karthik (13 not out off 8) for the sixth wicket, helping RCB post a competitive total. He was out on the penultimate ball of the final over.
Chasing a competitive total, Lucknow didn’t get off to a good start as Josh Hazlewood sent Quinton de Kock (3) back to the pavilion in the 3rd over of the innings. Manish Pandey (6), who came to bat next also couldn’t do much and fell to a back-of-length ball bowled by Hazlewood as LSG were reduced to 33-2.
From there on, K.L. Rahul and Krunal Pandya needed to rebuild the Lucknow innings and they did that by adding 31 for the third wicket in just three overs before Harshal Patel got the prized wicket of the LSG captain with one down the leg side.
Rahul (30 off 24) was looking to defend the ball but got a faint edge to the ‘keeper down the leg side. The keeper never appealed but RCB went for the review and got the decision right.
Virat Kohli, who came to bat next, went for a first-ball duck in the next delivery of the same over
