Bangalore and Lucknow locked horns in the 31st game of the Indian T20 League 2022 at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Mumbai. The latter won the toss and elected to field first. Pacer Dushmatha Chameera backed up the decision with two back-to-back wickets in the first over. Chameera dismissed Anuj Rawat (4) and Virat Kohli (0) on the fifth and sixth ball respectively.
Glenn Maxwell (23 off 11) came in and provided some momentum to the innings before he was caught by Jason Holder off Krunal Pandya. Suyash Prabhudesai (10), who scored a quick 34 against Chennai, could not do much in the game as he became the first victim of Holder. At 62/4, the team was struggling but the likes of skipper Faf du Plessis and Shahbaz Ahmed stitched a partnership of 70 runs to stage an excellent recovery.
Ahmed scored 26 off 22 before he was run out by the combination of KL Rahul and Holder. Du Plessis (96 off 64) missed out on his hundred by four runs as he was caught by Marcus Stoinis off Holder in the last over of the innings. On the other hand, Dinesh Karthik played a cameo of 13 off eight balls and the team amassed 181/6.
In reply, the Men In Mint Green had a poor start as the opening batter, Quinton de Kock (3) was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood. Manish Pandey (6) couldn’t do much as he became the second victim of Hazlewood. In form Rahul scored 30 off 24 before he was caught behind by Karthik off Harshal Patel with the score reading 64/3 in eight overs.
Deepak Hooda (13), who has hit two fifties in the season, couldn’t do much as he was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj. Krunal Pandya (42 off 28), who was looked threatening, was caught by Shahbaz Ahmed off Maxwell. Ayush Badoni (13) became the third victim of Hazlewood. The Australian completed his four-wicket haul by cleaning up Marcus Stoinis (24). The lack of big partnerships and big scores from batters hurt the team in the end as they were restricted to 163/8, losing the game by 18 runs.
This is how Twitter reacted
Winning the game from Losing two wickets in the first over of the game, well done RCB ðŸ‘
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 19, 2022
Hazlewood removed the final log between RCB and victory by removing Stoinis’s timber! He’s been fantastic for Bangalore ðŸ‘@JoshHazIewood38 #RCBvsLSG #IPL2022
— Reema Malhotra (@ReemaMalhotra8) April 19, 2022
Without doubt @RCBTweets are the real deal this year under @faf1307 !!! #IPL2022
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 19, 2022
What is happening with the umpiring @IPL , it's quite pathetic and small bad decisions lead to big outcomes! Wake up and put some people who actually can be a ref! #RCBvsLSG
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) April 19, 2022
Two games @LucknowIPL have held back @MStoinis so long that they’ve lost both. Wonder what’s their strategy? #RCBvsLSG
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) April 19, 2022
Faff, DK, Maxi – Praise them all but don’t forget Shahbaz Ahmed .. Accelerating with DK or recovery with Faff, he’s been there playing his part to perfection. #LSGvRCB
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) April 19, 2022
Reckon there are few batters as clinical in their approach to a T20 innings than Faf du Plessis. Reckon his ton for Saint Lucia Kings at last year’s CPL was the best put together T20 innings I have watched.
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) April 19, 2022
Faf’s match. Rescued his team with sterling knock, captained superbly, putting #LSG’s strong batting under sustained pressure with shrewd mix of attack and defence. RCB brilliant in the field, especially the accurate & probing Hazlewood. Badly need runs from Kohli going ahead
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 19, 2022
Chennai’s loss is Bangalore’s gain. Faf and Hazlewood. #RCB has been superb thus far…finding ways to win when a lot seems lost. ðŸ‘👠#IPL2022
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 19, 2022
100 & 5 Wicket Haul Yesterday ✅
96 & 4 Wicket Haul Today ✅#TataIPL gets entertaining every passing day 👠Good win for #RCB #RCBvLSG— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) April 19, 2022
Josh’s stellar spell of 4/25 is an outstanding performance which helped #RCB to pull this one. #JoshHazlewood #RCBvLSG #IPL2022
— Vinay Kumar R (@Vinay_Kumar_R) April 19, 2022
