Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper KL Rahul’s injury early in the game turned out to be expensive for the home side as they lost by 18 runs in a low-scoring encounter at their homeground. On a wicket that assisted bowlers and favoured spinners, LSG kept on losing wickets and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) registered a comprehensive win by 18 runs.
LSG's run chase got off to a horrendous start. Mohammed Siraj got the crucial wicket of Kyle Mayers off the second ball to set the tone. Siraj took a beating in his second over as Krunal Pandya hit him fro three consecutive fours. In the next over, Glenn Maxwell was introduced into the attack and he got the wicket of Pandya who scored 14 runs from 11 balls. Playing his first game of the season after recovering from injury, got Ayush Badoni's wicket. Badoni scored just four runs from 11 balls. In the sixth over, Wanindu Hasaranga struck with the first ball he bowled. Under-performing Deepak Hooda got stumped after scoring just a single. Nicholas Pooran got off the mark with a six and LSG were 34/4 after powerplay overs.
Karn Sharma ended Pooran's short stay at the crease as LSG lost half their side for 38 runs. In his next over, Karn took a beating from Krishnappa Gowtham who hit him for a six and a four. Gowtham hit a six off Hasaranga as well. At halfway stage, LSG were 63/5. Karn struck again and got the wicket of Stoinis who scored 13 runs from 19 balls. In the 12th over, Gowtham's cameo came to an end as he got run out. Gowtham scored 23 runs from 13 balls including one four and two sixes.
After the seventh wicket, not a single boundary was scored till the 17th over. Meanwhile Ravi Bishnoi got run out as well. In the 17th over, Mishra ended the boundary drought. Siraj bowled a no ball as well but not a single run was scored off the free hit delivery. Naveen-ul-Haq managed a boundary off Harshal Patel in the 18th over. He hit another four in next over to get the score past 100. Hazelwood ended the Afghan batter's innings in the penultimate over. He scored 13 runs from 13 balls. Rahul came out to bat but struggled with the hamstring and refused to take a single. In the end, LSG lost the match by 18 runs. Mishra scored 19 runs from 30 balls as LSG got all out for 108 with one ball left in the innings.
Earlier, Du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first. On a tough pitch, RCB openers got the visitors off to a decent start. Naveen-ul-Haq was the most expensive in the powerplay overs as he went for 12 runs in the fourth over. After six overs, RCB had 42 runs on the board. In the ninth over, Bishnoi broke the partnership with Kohli's wicket. He went down the track and got stumped. He scored 31 runs from 30 balls including three fours. Anuj Rawat failed to justify his selection as he got out to Krishnappa Gowtham. Rawat scored just nine runs from 11 balls.
Glenn Maxwell's struggled against the spin continued. Maxwell got out lbw trying to reverse-sweep. The spinners tightened the screws. Suyash Prabhudessai went after Mishra and got caught at long-off. Mishra got the wicket of Du Plessis in the 17th over. The opener scored 44 runs from 40 balls including one six and one four. RCB batters failed to score big in the slog overs. Mahipal Lomror got out lbw to Naveen. In the penultimate over, Dinesh Karthik's cameo came to an end with a run out. Karthik scored 16 runs from 11 balls. In the final over, Naveen conceded just six runs and and took two wickets. RCB managed to post 126/9.
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