RCB ride on pace bowlers’ excellence to outclass LSG by 5 wickets 

Bengaluru: Experience of pacers Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar found an ally in the youthful exuberance of Rasikh Salam Dar as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) outclassed Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by five wickets in an IPL match on Wednesday, April 15. 

A slightly slow Chinnaswamy pitch, much against the pre-match notions, would have been RCB’s bigger concern in the chase of 147. 

But once Virat Kohli (49) and skipper Rajat Patidar (27) mastered the deck and the LSG bowlers, the home side scaled down the target in 15.1 overs. 

Kohli played a typical innings during the chase, striking well over 200 at the start as RCB quickly overcame the early dismissal of Phil Salt. 

Kohli, who slammed four fours in a Prince Yadav over, and Devdutt Padikkal added 57 runs for the second wicket and the latter’s contribution was a handsome 10 before getting out. 

However, the former skipper could not complete yet another IPL fifty as he holed out pacer Avesh Khan to Nicholas Pooran at long-on. 

But Patidar continued his six-hitting ways – two in a row of Mohammed Shami and one off Prince – as RCB whittle down the target considerably. 

Patidar and Jitesh Sharma got out in their effort to finish off the chase in quick time, but they have already done enough to seal points from this game. 

Bowlers to the fore

Before batters showed up, RCB gained upper hand over LSG through exceptional spells by Salam (4/24), Bhuvneshwar (3/27) and Hazlewood (1/20). 

Hazlewood might have taken only a wicket but his effort with the new ball in the Power Play went a long way to bundle out LSG for a sub-par 146. 

The night turned out to be even grimmer for the Super Giants as their skipper Rishabh Pant had to retire hurt on zero after a copping a blow on his left elbow by RCB pacer Hazlewood.

However, Pant returned to bat briefly later when his side was struggling at 118 for five after the dismissal of Ayush Badoni in the 16th over. 

He did not keep the wickets either as Mukul Choudhary did the duty during RCB’s chase. 

Hazlewood bowled three overs in the Power Play that read a scarcely believable 3-0-10-1, helping RCB restrict LSG to a way below par 35 for one in the Power Play.

Apart from cutting short a struggling Pant’s tenure brutally, Hazlewood (4-0-20-1) inflicted more pain on LSG by dismissing out for form Pooran, who dragged the pacer on to his stumps.

The lengths of Hazlewood, who returned in place of Jacob Duffy for this match, was so immaculate that none of the LSG batters could find any space to get him away. 

RCB will also heave a sigh of relief after seeing the Aussie back at his best after a lacklustre outing against Rajasthan Royals a few days ago. 

He received superb support from veteran pace colleague Bhuvneshwar and Salam, who found appreciable swing to trouble LSG batters.

Mitchell Marsh played some big shots — two massive sixes off Bhuvneshwar, which sailed out of the stadium, and Krunal Pandya — during his 32-ball 40.

But Pandya cleverly reduced his pace, forcing Marsh to reach out for the ball which resulted in him edging the ball on to his stumps.

The Chinnaswamy stadium pitch was on the slower side compared to previous matches here, but certainly nothing was in it the batters could not have negotiated.

In fact, the LSG batters were able to take a good chunk of runs off spinners Suyash Sharma and Pandya on the night — 72 runs across eight overs.

Pant lasted only a couple of balls, whipping Bhuvneshwar to Phil Salt in the deep.

Badoni (38, 24b) and Mukul (39, 28b) tried their best to resuscitate the LSG innings but the damage done at the top was too vast to mitigate.

They fumbled in the last five overs too, making only 34 runs for the loss of six wickets as Salam helped himself to three wickets at this phase.