A scintillating batting display by Faf du Plessis (96 off 64) followed by a sensational bowling spell by Josh Hazlewood (4/25) led Royal Challengers Bangalore to an 18-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL 2022 match at the D.Y. Patil Stadium, here on Tuesday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis led by 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 power play. At 44/3 after 5.2 overs, RCB were in a spot of bother but Faf du Plessis took on the mantle of batting through the innings.
He anchored the innings to perfection by stitching a crucial 70-run partnership 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 before getting on the penultimate ball of the final over.
Jason Holder (2/25) and Dushmantha Chameera (2/31) managed to pick two wickets each while Krunal Pandya (1/29) got one wicket for Lucknow.
Chasing a competitive total, Lucknow kept losing wickets from time to time and gave RCB back-to-back chances to make a comeback in the game. Krunal Pandya (42 runs off 28 balls), K.L. Rahul (30 off 24), Marcus Stoinis (24 runs off 15 balls) and Jason Holder (16 runs off 8 balls) tried hard but it was not enough as Lucknow were restricted to 163/8 in 20 overs, losing by 18 runs.
Apart from Hazlewood, Harshal Patel (47/2), Glenn Maxwell (1/11), and Mohammed Siraj (1/31) also picked important wickets for RCB.
(Inputs from IANS)