‘Bangalore is a real deal this year’: Faf du Plessis and Josh Hazlewood take Bangalore to a comfortable victory against Lucknow

Lucknow squared off against Bangalore in the 31^st match of the Indian T20 League 2022 at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. The match was a rather one sided affair as Bangalore dominated Lucknow for most of the match.

Lucknow won the toss and decided that they will chase in the match. Bangalore’s start was poor as they lost two wickets in the very first over. One of these wickets was the big one of Virat Kohli who was dismissed for a golden duck by Dushmantha Chameera. By the end of the powerplays, they also lost Glenn Maxwell (23 off 11) and were down to 44 for three within the sixth over. The skipper Faf du Plessis was progressing steadily at one end as Bangalore lost one more wicket in the form of Suyash Prabhudessai (10 off 9). Shabaz Ahmed joined his skipper at this stage and played a perfect supporting role to Faf. He kept rotating the strike while Du Plessis played the role of the aggressor.

Ahmed (26 off 22) was ultimately dismissed in the 16^th over of the innings by the means of a runout. The duo stitched a partnership of 70 runs and stabilized the innings, providing the launchpad for a formidable total.  Du Plessis however continued with his onslaught and was dismissed in the penultimate ball of the innings after he scored 96 runs off 64 deliveries. He hit 11 fours and two sixes in his innings and displayed his class throughout his stay. Bangalore reached a formidable total of 181 runs from their 20 overs. Jason Holder was the pick of the bowlers for Lucknow picking up two wickets for 25 runs from his four overs.

While chasing the formidable total Lucknow was expecting Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul to give them a solid and quick start. But De Kock was dismissed quite early in the third over for just three runs off five deliveries. Rahul however tried to provide a good start to his team but was the third wicket to fall for his team. Rahul was dismissed by Harshal Patel in the 8th over of the innings, with the team’s score reading 64 for three. Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda got together at this stage and were looking in control of the proceedings as they progressed towards the target steadily. Though Hooda fell to Siraj in the 13th over of the innings for 13 runs off 14 deliveries. But with Krunal Pandya middling the ball the match was far from over and expectations were high for another nail-biting finish. Maxwell picked up Krunal (42 off 28) in the 14th over and the match was now hanging in the balance. The arrival of Marcus Stoinis was the bonus for Lucknow while the momentum of the game was with Bangalore. As the 15th over concluded Lucknow was 117 for five needing 65 runs off the last 30 balls. The required rate of 13 runs per over looked tough but Stoinis’ presence was keeping the hopes of Lucknow alive.

But Josh Hazlewood picked up Marcus Stoinis (24 off 15) in the 19th over and more or less ensured the Bangalore’s victory in the match. Lucknow ultimately fell short of the target by 19 runs and lost their third match in the tournament. Josh Hazlewood bowled a brilliant spell picking up 4 wickets for 25 runs from his four overs ensuring the fifth victory for Bangalore.

Innings Break!

A brilliant 96 from the Skipper propels #RCB to a total of 181/6 on the board.

Scorecard – https://t.co/9Dwu1D2Lxc #LSGvRCB #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/6O4KUFhge0

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 19, 2022

https://twitter.com/RCBTweets/status/1516445094794395650?s=20&t=SYtxVmYZtCxL3_NiRdkphA

https://twitter.com/Rahulc7official/status/1516468821690707974?s=20&t=SYtxVmYZtCxL3_NiRdkphA

Hazelwood can be the game changer with the ball for RCB this season they surely be in Playoffs #LSGvsRCB

— Maulik Vadariya (@MaulikVadariya) April 19, 2022

https://twitter.com/RCBTweets/status/1516474641032040450?s=20&t=SYtxVmYZtCxL3_NiRdkphA

Two games @LucknowIPL have held back @MStoinis so long that they’ve lost both. Wonder what’s their strategy? #RCBvsLSG

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) April 19, 2022

https://twitter.com/SushantNMehta/status/1516475047200030722?s=20&t=oC8gf9B2sZ41xFKdp4A4Nw

https://twitter.com/onlyprathamesh/status/1516475141101801477?s=20&t=oC8gf9B2sZ41xFKdp4A4Nw

https://twitter.com/Sportskeeda/status/1516475818310270976?s=20&t=oC8gf9B2sZ41xFKdp4A4Nw

Without doubt @RCBTweets are the real deal this year under @faf1307 !!! #IPL2022

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 19, 2022

https://twitter.com/IrfanPathan/status/1516477203067801605?s=20&t=oxwdQRaQRC_ogFBExPMbFA