Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) registered a convincing 14-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2022 Eliminator at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday (May 25).
Invited to bat first, RCB piled up a mammoth 207/4 in their 20 overs on the back of Rajat Patidar’s unbeaten century (112 off 54 balls). Dinesh Karthik also made a notable contribution of 23-ball 37* with the willow.
Amid the carnage, Mohsin Khan returned with impressive bowling figures of 1 for 25 in his four overs for LSG.
In reply, Lucknow lost Quinton de Kock for just 6 while Manan Vohra fell for 19. However, the duo of skipper KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda put on 96 runs for the third wicket to keep the team in the chase.
While Hooda got out on 26-ball 45, Rahul held the one end but didn’t get enough support to take his team over the line. The likes of Marcus Stoinis (6), Krunal Pandya (0) and Evin Lewis (2*) failed to rise to the occasion.
Josh Hazlewood dismissed Rahul in the penultimate over for 58-ball 79 to put the final nail in the coffin. LSG’s innings eventually folded for 193/6 in 20 overs.
Hazlewood (3/43) returned with three scalps while Harshal Patel registered impressive figures of 1/25 as RCB secured their place in Qualifier 2, where they will take on Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad on May 27.
For their impressive performance in the Eliminator, Faf du Plessis and company received rich praise from the cricket fraternity on Twitter.
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