Du Plessis, Hazlewood Star In Bangalore's 18 Run Win Over Lucknow

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs.

Faf du Plessis' 96 followed by Josh Hazlewood's four-wicket haul helped Royal Challengers Bangalore defeat Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs in the 31st match of the IPL 2022. 

Chasing 182, Super Giants lost their top three -  Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul, and Manish Pandey - inside eight overs for the score of 64. While de Kock (3), and Manish (6) got out without much contribution, Rahul scored 30 in 24 balls to give a platform to the team. 

Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda added 36 runs in 27 balls to further take the game forward. Hooda scored 13 in 14 balls before getting out. In the next over, Krunal too got out after making 42 in 28 balls. 

Ayush Badoni couldn't make much impact and got out scoring 13 in 13 balls. But Marcus Stoinis was once again looking to take the game away from RCB during his 24-run knock but got out in the 19th over. Jason Holder's 16 off 8 couldn't help LSG's chances. 

Hazlewood removed de Kock, Manish, Ayush, and Stoinis during his four-wicket haul. 

Earlier, Faf du Plessis' 96 powered RCB to 181/6 in the first inning. 

On being asked to bat first, RCB had a horror start as Dushmantha Chameera removed both Anuj Rawat and Virat Kohli in the first over itself. Glenn Maxwell counter-attacked and scored 23 in 11 balls but got out in the sixth over as RCB finished the powerplay at 47/3. 

Bangalore lost Suyash Prabhudessai next in the eight over. Faf du Plessis and Shahbaz Ahmed stitched a crucial 70-run stand in 48 balls to get RCB back on track. Shahbaz got runout in the 16th over after scoring 26 runs. 

du Plessis and Dinesh Karthik further added 49 runs in 27 balls. The RCB captain looked set to score a hundred but got out on 96 in the last over of the inning but helped his team get to 181/6. 

Brief Scorecard: 

Royal Challengers Bangalore - 181/6 
Lucknow Super Giants - 163/8