LSG vs RCB, IPL 2023: RCB wins by 18 runs, bowlers take it to the top

43rd Match, IPL: Royal Challengers Bangalore 126 for 9 (du Plessis 44, Kohli 31, Naveen 3-30) beat Lucknow Super Giants 108 (Gowtham 23, Hazlewood 2-15, Karn 2-20) by 18 runs

On the batting paradise at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants scored 425 runs in 40 overs in their previous meeting. On Monday night, LSG served a dark soil pitch on their home ground where the ball grasped and held into the surface. The outcome: 234 runs were scored in 39.5 overs, with RCB winning by 18 runs.

Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis set the tone by adding 62 runs in nine overs after Faf du Plessis chose to bat. However, the innings never really moved beyond first gear. Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Amit Mishra and K Gowtham joined to bowl 13 overs of twisting and got 5 for 73 between them. Naveen-ul-Haq, who bowled his cutters into the pitch, also reaped the benefits, taking three wickets at the end to keep RCB at 126 for 9.

LSG’s response was a nightmare of a start. After seven overs, they were 38 for 5 and 77 for 8 when Marcus Stoinis and Gowtham also fell in consecutive overs. KL Rahul was at that point LSG’s only hope. In the second over of the game, he injured his right leg and hobbled off the field. However, by the time he reached No. 11, LSG required 24 from 8 balls.

It was abundantly clear that Rahul would not attempt to cross the wickets. He played three dots, one of which was a free hit. After that, he saw Amit Mishra trying to score 23 in the last over.

RCB’s slow start

After RCB scored just 20 runs in the initial three overs, du Plessis and Kohli attempted to break the shackles. Kohli followed with a four after du Plessis struck Naveen for a straight six in the fourth over. However, in the subsequent two games, Krunal and Bishnoi only gave up ten goals, and RCB won the powerplay with 42 points.

Bishnoi gets Kohli and Maxwell

When Kohli made the decision to skip the match against Bishnoi, Du Plessis and Kohli had reached 62 in 8.5 overs. He was nowhere near the ball, which also turned into a googly and beat Nicholas Pooran on the inside edge for an easy stumping.

No. 3 Prior to Gowtham’s dismissal, Anuj Rawat only scored nine. As a result, RCB’s arguably best spin batter, Glenn Maxwell, was placed in the middle. On his fifth ball, he attempted to  reverse-sweep a Bishnoi legbreak just to get hit on the thigh and be given out lbw.

Mishra had Suyash Prabhudessai caught at long-off in the 15th over thanks to a great diving catch by Gowtham, leaving RCB 90 for 4.

Rain but no runs

Dinesh Karthik started play by hitting Naveen over midwicket for four after a brief period of rain stopped play for about 25 minutes. He got Mishra to pull a half-tracker for a six in the 17th over, and du Plessis also tried to take Mishra on, but he missed. Krunal rushed to one side from point and finished the tumbling get close to additional cover.

RCB had been hoping Karthik would deliver a few last-minute blows, but Yash Thakur ended their hopes. In the 19th over, Wanindu Hasaranga hit a ball back toward Thakur, who fielded it and hit the ball directly at the non-striker’s end, putting Karthik short of the wicket after he had run a long way.

RCB bounce back

Mohammed Siraj has been deadly with the new ball this season, and he indeed struck early, having Kyle Mayers gotten at mid-on with the second wad of the pursuit. LSG were two for one after two overs.

Krunal hit Siraj for three progressive fours in the third to make a definite difference, yet LSG lost four wickets in the following four overs. Krunal was quick to go, chipping Maxwell to long-off. Josh Hazlewood bowled out Ayush Badoni, who had replaced Thakur as an Impact Player and started the inning.

With his first ball, Wanindu Hasaranga dealt a blow, pulling Deepak Hooda out of the crease with a googly and leaving him stumped. Pooran began with a first-ball six yet when he attempted to go for one more success against Karn Sharma, he holed out to deep square leg.

LSG slip further

LSG continued to appear to be attacking the target. Gowtham hit Karn for a six and four, and followed it with one more six off Hasaranga. That diminished the condition to 64 required from the last ten overs. However, Karn sliced Stoinis’s attempt to go big against him to long-off. Gowtham was run out in the following over as well due to his careless running while returning for a second run.

Rahul leaves it too late

LSG required 49 in the last five overs with two wickets close by. Mishra and Naveen were in the center; The dugout’s padding still covered Rahul. The required rate kept going up, and by the time Rahul got there, it was too late because Mishra couldn’t get the boundaries and he couldn’t run.