The 43rd match of the Indian Premier League 2023 was played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The low-scoring match saw a load of wickets in both innings.
Faf du Plessis once again took over as RCB captaincy from Virat Kohli. On a slow track, he won the toss and elected to bat first, which was a sensible option. Faf put on a decent batting display alongside Virat Kohli, adding 62 runs in 9 overs. However, the two were too slow in their approach, and Virat lost his wicket as a result.
Following that, the batters’ pace slowed significantly as they lost Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, and Suyash Prabhudesai in quick succession. Faf, on the other hand, attempted to rotate the strike at one end before rain intervened.
After the game resumed, Dinesh Karthik played a couple of good strokes, but Faf was out in the 17th over after scoring 44 runs in 40 balls. The 2016 finalists couldn’t keep their cool as wickets continued to fall for them. Karthik batted well till he was run out in the 19th over.
Naveen ul Haq, an Afghani bowler, bowled a brilliant last over, scooping up two wickets and allowing only six runs. In the end, the Royal Challengers scored 126 runs while losing nine wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
LSG falter in the run chase
KL Rahul, who injured himself while fielding in the first innings, was replaced by Ayush Badoni to open the 2nd innings. However, the LSG batting did not click after losing the in-form Kyle Mayers on the second ball of the innings. The wickets kept tumbling for them as half of the side was back to the dugout for a team score of 38 in 7 overs, courtesy of excellent spin bowling.
The Super Giants skipper eventually had to come in to bat after the team was down to 103/9 in 18.4 overs. Since he was unable to run, Amit Mishra had to take strike in the last over with 23 runs needed to win. While he hit a boundary in the over, it was not enough for the team. RCB beat LSG by a margin of 18 runs as LSG was all-out for a score of 108.
Here is how Twitter reacted to RCB’s win
Haha karma? pic.twitter.com/vG6WXaeWsV
— KOHLI4EVER (@JaBraFanx) May 1, 2023
Revenge taken
— cocoa butter #SackHessonandMalolan (@xanaxwithin) May 1, 2023
LSG gifted this match to RCB.
— Civil Engineer (@nimjedhiraj1) May 1, 2023
Small total, very well defended by #RCB . Electric energy from Kohli & co
— Zephyr (@franktoni23) May 1, 2023
The best thing about time is that, it changes! pic.twitter.com/A7opwpNLuF
— Ana de Armas stan (@abhithecomic) May 1, 2023
Appreciation for captain faf well played RCB ??? w
— ro45_stan (@ro45___stan) May 1, 2023
Wtc final injuryed hojaga IPL league ke chalte KL Rahul.
— Royals Cricket (@ImHimanshu_Raj) May 1, 2023
Gautam mc crying is my source of happiness. I live for this day. Their tears work as glucose for my body, their screams bring peace to my ears. this is the best scenery I can ever witness
Well done thalson virat ??— ??HARS-HIT ? (@AnonymityVirus) May 1, 2023
? with 1 batter short,
— unknown user (@tamilan_jr) May 1, 2023
