Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Lucknow Super Giants by five wickets. Image Credit: ANI
In the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by a commanding five wickets on Wednesday in Bengaluru, thanks to Virat Kohli’s fluid knock and helpful cameos from Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma. This dominant performance propelled RCB to the top of the points table.
Although the Lucknow Super Giants made a brief comeback, Digvesh Rathi’s costly spell proved costly as he let up 51 runs in his four overs, finally giving the opposition the upper hand.
Phil Salt and Kohli started the batting for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who were chasing 147. Defending a modest total, Lucknow Super Giants struck early as speedster Prince Yadav cleaned up Salt for just 7 in the second over, bringing Devdutt Padikkal to the crease.
In response, Kohli, who was playing as an Impact Player, took on seasoned seamer Mohammed Shami in the third over and hit three boundaries. He continued the trend by robbing Prince Yadav of 17 runs in the next over. After that, Kohli and Padikkal’s partnership picked up speed, propelling RCB to 60/1 at the conclusion of the powerplay. In the eighth over, Avesh Khan finally broke the partnership for the second wicket, dismissing Padikkal for ten and putting Rajat Patidar, the captain of the RCB, at the crease.
In the very next over, Patidar took on Shami and hit him for two massive sixes, taking RCB 86-2 after 10 overs. He didn’t take long to change gears. In the next over, Avesh dismissed Kohli for 49. This marks the first time Kohli has been dismissed for 49 in IPL. After joining captain Rajat Patidar at the crease, Jitesh Sharma made an instant impression by hitting Digvesh Rathi for 22 runs in the 12th over.
Despite being smashed for a six off the opening ball of the thirteenth over, Prince Yadav responded in the very next over, giving his team hope by removing both Patidar and Sharma. With 29 balls left in the game, RCB’s pinch hitters, Tim David and Romario Shepherd, sealed the victory for their team.
Earlier in the match, Rasikh Salam Dar led a clinical bowling performance as LSG were bundled out for a modest 146 against the defending champions, RCB. Rasikh produced a standout spell to trigger key breakthroughs, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood provided crucial support as LSG never fully recovered from setbacks and regular loss of wickets through the middle overs.
After being asked to bat first, LSG made a steady start, reaching 22/0 in the first three overs before losing their opening wicket in the fourth over. On the final delivery of the over, Rasikh Salam Dar struck to remove Aiden Markram, who scored 12 off 8 balls, including a six.
The innings took a further hit when skipper Rishabh Pant had to walk off after being struck on the elbow by a Josh Hazlewood delivery during the fourth ball of the fifth over. The defending champions kept things tight, restricting LSG to 35/1 at the end of the powerplay — their lowest powerplay score of the season. The Super Giants also struggled to find momentum, managing 15 dot balls in the first six overs.
Hazlewood struck again soon after, cleaning up a struggling Nicholas Pooran for just one run, as LSG moved to 63/2 after nine overs. Just as a partnership was beginning to build, Krunal Pandya provided another breakthrough by dismissing Mitchell Marsh in the 10th over. Marsh fell after a well-made 40 off 32 balls, featuring three fours and two sixes, leaving LSG at 71/3.
During the second ball of the 12th over, Krunal Pandya took his second wicket. The all-rounder dismissed Abdul Samad for a two-ball duck. After completing his wicket, Krunal reached the landmark of 100 wickets in his IPL career. Krunal also became the sixth finger spinner with 100 or more wickets in the tournament’s history after Sunil Narine, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, and Axar Patel. By the end of the 15th over, LSG reached 112/4, as they continued to search for momentum in their innings. During the fifth ball of the 16th over, Rasikh Salam Dar picked up his second wicket of the innings by removing Ayush Badoni. The right-handed batter scored 38 off 24 deliveries, hitting four boundaries and a six.
Following Badoni’s dismissal, skipper Rishabh Pant walked out to bat with his left elbow heavily strapped, as the team looked to rebuild in the closing stages of the innings. LSG continued to lose momentum as skipper Pant endured a difficult outing, falling for just one. Phil Salt completed a sharp catch to dismiss the LSG captain, further deepening their woes. With wickets tumbling at regular intervals, the visitors slipped to 124/6 at the end of the 17th over.
During the 19th over, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar got back-to-back wickets of George Linde and Mohammed Shami as LSG sank to 137/8. During the 20th over, Rasikh took two wickets of Mukul Choudhary (39 off 28 balls, with five boundaries) and Avesh Khan (1) as Lucknow were bundled out for just 146 runs.
(With ANI Inputs)
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