In Match 15 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) completely destroyed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Against their home field, the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Faf du Plessis and company lost for the third time in the competition. The visitors improved to fourth place on the IPL 2024 Points Table with their second win of the season after dominating in both departments.
RCB chose to field first after winning the toss. One alteration was made to the starting lineups by both teams: Reece Topley took Mohsin Khan’s spot in the RCB, while Yash Thakur replaced him in the LSG. In the opening over, Quinton de Kock hit three boundaries off Topley and took the lead with a 56-ball 81. Before he could do much harm, Mayank Dagar sent Rahul back, even though he was now the captain.
Also read: IPL 2024: MI vs RR Match 14 Highlights
Although Nicholas Pooran’s explosion in the final two overs lifted LSG to a competitive score, RCB was able to rally during the middle part of the innings. The Caribbean power hitter gave RCB a target of 182 after hitting five sixes and a four. With the ball not coming to the bat readily and the surface being two-paced, LSG were optimistic about the total. Following their sending of Kohli, du Plessis, and Maxwell, the big three of the RCB, to the pavilion during the powerplay, LSG prevented their opponents from controlling the game.
Highlight IPL 2024 of RCB vs. LSG’s second innings: Overs 0.1 to 6 (Mandatory: 48/3)
LSG initiated the bowling attack by activating Manimaran Siddharth, their Impact Substitute. Since the ground favoured the slow bowlers, LSG brought in Krunal Pandya in the second over, as RCB’s top order often struggled against the left-arm spinner. The captain of the RCB, Faf du Plessis, blasted two boundaries off Siddharth in the third over, and in the next over, Kohli welcomed Naveen-ul-Haq with a six.
While the Chinnaswamy crowd went wild with excitement, the left-arm spinner calmed everyone down by taking the invaluable wicket of Kohli (22 off 16 balls) in the fifth over. As du Plessis was run out and Glenn Maxwell was removed by Mayank Yadav for a two-ball ducky in the PowerPlay’s last over, the tide turned in favour of the visitors.
50 runs in 6.1 overs for Royal Challengers Bengaluru
When examining the runs, RCB scored rather well in the first PowerPlay, but they also lost three important hitters during this time. Cameron Green, who batted fifth in this game as opposed to previous ones, took a double off the opening ball of the seventh over to help the club reach 50 runs.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 60/4 (9 overs) is the first strategic timeout.
In the ninth over, Australian all-rounder Green was bowled out for just nine runs by Mayank Yadav, who struck again. At this point, LSG had the upper hand entirely, and the needed run rate for RCB had surpassed 11. To get the hosts out of danger, the inexperienced Anuj Rawat and the out-of-form Rajat Patidar are at the crease.
100 runs in 13.3 overs for Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Mahipal Lomror, an Impact Player for RCB, hit a single to bring the team to 100 runs. After Marcus Stoinis dismissed Rawat in the 13th over, the southpaw came out to bat. On the opening ball of the fourteenth over, Lomror struck a boundary off Yash Thakur. He then rotated the strike in the following delivery, bringing the scoreboard to 100/5.
The match ends with Royal Challengers Bengaluru scoring 153/10 in 19.4 overs.
After taking Patidar’s wicket in the fifteenth over, Mayank Yadav recorded consecutive three-fors. To provide hope to the RCB supporters, Lomror struck two sixes and a four in the following over bowled by Thakur. Both sides had similar chances, but LSG had a tiny advantage as they needed 59 off the final four overs.
Lomror struck two boundaries off Naveen, but Dinesh Karthik’s wicket from the LSG pacer ended any aspirations. The match was effectively won at that point, but Bengaluru’s late surge carried the match into the very last over. Naveen ended the match by taking Mohammed Siraj’s wicket to record his second wicket of the evening. After just 153 runs, RCB’s resistance broke, as they lost for the third time in four games.