A tidy, compact bowling performance laid the platform for Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s comfortable five-wicket win over the Lucknow Super Giants at the Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Opting to bowl first on a slow pitch after winning the toss, the RCB bowlers barely put a foot wrong and restricted the Super Giants to a modest 146. Quicks Rasikh Salam (4/24) and senior pro Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/27) shared the bulk of the wickets, while Krunal Pandya continued with his good work with the scalps of Mitchell Marsh and Abdul Samad.
RCB lost Phil Salt early in the second over of the run chase with only nine on the board. But Salt’s opening partner Virat Kohli, playing as an Impact Player for the first time in the IPL, due to a knee
discomfort, ensured the defending champions got the move-on despite the early loss of a wicket.
The Chinnaswamy pitch wasn’t a surface where one could muscle the ball for fours and sixes or keep unleashing stand-and-deliver strokes. Once again proving his sheer class and quality, the former captain, “still not 100 per cent and under the weather over the last four-five days”, adjusted to the conditions and
focused on placement to hit
six boundaries and a six at will, propelling RCB to 60/1 in the Powerplay.
Kohli (49 off 34 balls), the top-run getter (228 runs) at present, fell just one short of a half-century. However, despite the bit of sluggishness of the surface, captain Rajat Patidar (27 off 13) and keeper-batter Jitesh Sharma (23 off 9) were still able to showcase their pyrotechnics that eventually took RCB home with 29 balls to spare.
RCB, thanks to this victory, leapfrogged Rajasthan Royals to occupy the top spot in the standings by virtue of a superior net run rate.
For LSG, who are now seventh, they just didn’t have enough on the board to put pressure on the RCB batting group. Besides, they are so far the only team in this edition yet to reach the 200-mark.
Openers Marsh and Aiden Markram gave the Super Giants a somewhat steady start. But following Markram’s dismissal off Rasikh, the Super Giants began to stutter.
Nicholas Pooran’s horrendous season continued, as this time no room from Josh Hazlewood had him cleaned up as he attempted a pull. Returning in place of New Zealand
quick Jacob Duffy, Hazlewood gave little away in his four-over spell, also hurting Rishabh Pant in the mid section and left elbow.
To talk of Krunal, this time, it wasn’t with the short ball, but a side-on action that made a set Marsh drag one back onto the stumps. Krunal then utilised the slowness of the pitch to fox Samad.
For the Super Giants, a little bit of fight on offer came from Ayush Badoni (38 off 24 balls) and the promising Mukul Choudhary (39 off 28 balls). But both of them were left with too much to do, before they were undone by Rasikh’s change of pace.
Pant injury
Hazlewood hit Pant twice with his back-of-a-length stuff in the fifth over of the game. The second one, hurting Pant’s left elbow, forced the Super Giants skipper off the field.
Pant, not off the mark at that stage, was in visible discomfort as he returned to the dugout. Having his elbow strapped, he came out to bat again in the 16th over, but perished in the very next off Bhuvneshwar, after scoring just one. Pant didn’t keep the wickets either, with Mukul donning the keeper’s gloves.
Whether Pant will be available for Lucknow’s next game against Punjab Kings on Sunday remains to be seen.