RCB bounced back hard, after the defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders, to beat Lucknow Super Giants in Match 43 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
The away team Produced a magnificent bowling and fielding performance as they defended 126 runs in an electric performance in Lucknow. Faf du Plessis' 44 off 40 and Virat Kohli's 31 off 30 had helped RCB post 126/9. A collective bowling performance then saw the bowlers bowl with discipline and pick up regular wickets, ably supported by the fielders who pulled off brilliant catches, stumping and run outs, to bowl LSG out for 108 and win by 18 runs.
Chasing 127, Lucknow Super Giants were rocked early as they lost Kyle Mayers early. The LSG opener mistimed his heave to mid on where Suyash Prabhudessai made no mistake. Josh Hazlewood then bowled a fantastic second over which saw Impact Player Ayush play and miss multiple times. He gave away just one but Krunal Pandya released the pressure in style in the next over, cracking three consecutive fours off Siraj to make it 16 off the third over. Krunal though couldn't continue for long as he chipped one straight into the hands of Virat Kohli at long off to give Glenn Maxwell a wicket in his first over.
Hazlewood struck in his next over, having Badoni (4 off 11) caught at short extra cover as Kohli pulled off a very good reflex catch to reduce LSG to 21/3.
Wanindu Hasarange made it three wickets in three overs for RCB as he had Deepak Hooda stumped with Karthik showing good presence of mind. Nichoolas Pooran got off the mark with a huge six first ball but it was RCB's Powerplay all the way as LSG hobbled to 34/4 at the end of first six overs.
Karn Sharma joined the wicket taking party, having Pooran (9 off 7) caught at deep square leg off a mistimed slog sweep as LSG lost half their side inside seven overs.
K Gowtham then provided a bit of relief, cracking a six and a four off Karn Sharma with LSG bringing up the fifty in the 9th over. Gowtham hit another six in the next over, lofting one straight down the ground off Hasaranga to reach 63/5 at the halfway mark. RCB introduced Harshal Patel as their Impact Player, replacing Anuj Rawat, at the start of the 11th over. LSG were then dealt with a huge blow as Stoinis (13 off 19) mistimed his loft to long off, off Karn Sharma and departed and three balls later Gowtham (23 off 13) too walked back to the hut, run out, trying to complete a second run. Three overs later, LSG suffered another run out as Bishoni(5 off 10) was caught well short on the second run. As the wickets kept falling the required rate kept climbing.
LSG went six overs without a boundary before Mishra got an outside edge to third man for a streaky four in the 17th over and Naveen-ul-Haq thumped one over extra cover another four in the next over to bring the equation to 31 needed off 12 balls.
Naveen got another four in the next over, off an inside edge wide of the short fine leg, trying to go for a reverse scoop but he departed next ball, caught behind off Hazlewood. The injured KL Rahul walked out to bat with 24 needed off 8 but he couldn't pull off the heist as RCB bowled LSG out for 108 with Harshal taking the final wicket of Amit Mishra.
