The 15th match of the IPL 2023 between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 10, 2023, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru saw the hosts lose nerve in the final over to hand the match to the visitors by the shortest of margins possible.
KL Rahul, the LSG captain won the toss and decided to chase. However, Virat Kohli took full advantage of the powerplay and scored 61 in 44 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes to his name. He also added 96 runs with captain Faf du Plessis in 11.3 overs.
Glenn Maxwell then joined in the fun and hammered 59 in 29 balls with 6 sixes and 3 fours himself. The RCB captain remained unbeaten on 79 in 46 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes, one of which was a 115-meter monster hit out of the stadium as RCB posted 212/2 in 20 overs.
In the chase of a big total, LSG batters faltered at the start as Mohammed Siraj dismissed Kyle Mayers for a duck and Wayne Parnell in his first outing for RCB dismissed Deepak Hooda for 9 and Krunal Pandya for a duck reducing LSG to 23/3.
KL Rahul scored a struggling 18 runs on his home turf. But then Marcus Stoinis made 65 in just 30 balls with 5 sixes and 6 fours, while Nicolas Pooran got them back in the game with a 19-ball 62 with 7 sixes and 4 fours.
Ayush Badoni with 30 in 24 balls took LSG within touching distance of the target but fell hit wicket despite hitting the last ball of the 19th over for a six.
With 5 needed in 6 balls to win, Faf du Plessis trusted Harshal Patel with the ball and he delivered by cleaning up Mark Wood on the second ball of the over. Ravi Bishnoi then picked up 3 runs in the next two balls.
But Harshal came back with the wicket of Jaydev Unadkat with one run needed off the last 2 balls.
Finally, it all came down to the last delivery with one needed for LSG to win the match. Harshal Patel began the excitement as he saw that the non-striker Bishnoi was running out of his crease. He tried to run him out in his bowling stride and missed.
He then crossed the crease and stopped and aimed again, this time hitting the stumps Bishnoi was short on his ground, but the umpires declared that since Harshal was through his bowling action, the run out won’t count.
Harshal bowled the delivery which was full outside off-stump and Avesh Khan the striker ran for the winning run, while Bishnoi hared to the other end. However, in his urgency to collect the ball and throw it, keeper Dinesh Karthik fumbled the ball allowing Avesh to reach the non-striker end safely.
LSG as a result, pocketed two points with one wicket win.
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