Royal Challengers Bangalore 181 for 6 (du Plessis 96, Holder 2-25, Chameera 2-31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 163 for 8 (Krunal 42, Hazlewood 4-25, Harshal 2-47) by 18 runs
Though Super Giants challenged through a hard-hitting knock of 42 off 28 balls from Krunal Pandya, they lost wickets at all-too-frequent intervals, and when Marcus Stoinis fell in frustrated circumstances with 34 needed from the final two overs, their challenge fell away, despite two final-over sixes from Jason Holder.
Kohli brings up an unwanted century
Dushmantha Chameera was the first seamer of the evening to discover the joys of a lively surface. By the time the first over of the match was done, Chameera was on a hat-trick thanks to the early scalps of Anuj Rawat and Virat Kohli … whose first-ball duck brought up perhaps the most unwanted century of his career.
Since making 136 against Bangladesh in November 2019, Kohli has now played exactly 100 matches without adding to that tally of hundreds – 17 Tests, 21 ODIs, 25 T20Is and 37 IPL games. This time he arrived at the crease after five legal deliveries, in which Rawat – unusually charged with facing the first ball – had lumped a drive through the line for four before scuffing a fuller-length ball to a diving Rahul at mid-off. One ball later, a stunned silence enveloped the stadium, as Chameera dragged back a hard length, found a hint of away movement, and lured a loose glide to point as Kohli sought to put bat through ball from the outset, but succeeded only in taking his record for this year’s tournament to 119 runs at 19.83. With the score at 7 for 2, du Plessis at the other end had yet to face a ball. He’d make amends soon enough.
Du Plessis presses the accelerator
Aside from falling agonisingly short of his century, du Plessis could hardly have crafted a more perfectly paced knock. He stayed composed through the chaos of an otherwise malfunctioning powerplay, and accelerated smoothly into his evening’s work, most particularly from the moment he launched an off-colour Ravi Bishnoi for six over long-on to move to the brink of his half-century in the 14th over. Up until that moment, he had cruised along to 43 from 38 balls, with six cherry-picked boundaries – all but one of them eased through the off-side as he feasted in particular on the over-pitched delivery. Thereafter, du Plessis smashed a further 53 from 26 – five more fours and a thudding drive for six off Krunal Pandya, for an overall strike-rate of exactly 150, as RCB transformed a faltering scoreline of 62 for 4 into a serviceable target of 182.
He was aided in that rebuild by Glenn Maxwell, who counterattacked after the two first-over wickets with 23 off 11, and Shahbaz Ahmed, who made 26 from 22 in a fifth-wicket stand of 70, while Dinesh Karthik lifted his tally for the tournament to 210 runs from 102 balls with 13 not out from 8. But after Stoinis spilled a low chance at backward square to reprieve Karthik off the deserving Jason Holder, he made amends in the same position from the penultimate ball of the innings.
Leaning back into a pull to the long side of the ground, du Plessis couldn’t get on top of another rising delivery from Holder, whose 6’8″ frame made superb use of a springy pitch all evening long for figures of 2 for 25 in four overs. It meant that du Plessis had equalled his IPL-best of 96, made for Chennai Super Kings against Kings XI Punjab in 2019, but was still waiting for that elusive maiden hundred.
More to follow…
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
Source: ESPN Crickinfo