RCB falter at the finish line in high-octane encounter against LSG

In a thriller featuring rain stoppages, no dew, a major turnaround, and plenty of runs, RCB went down in the dying embers of the game. A 19-over-affair between Lucknow Super Giants and RCB in Lucknow had all the necessary ingredients to label it as a thrilling battle and it lived up to its lofty expectations.

Winning the toss, RCB opted to bowl first. They had an unchanged XI from the game against Gujarat Titans. Things went off for them at the start, as Mitchell Marsh took over the reins and unleashed a knock of impeccable excellence. Combining with Arshin Kulkarni, the duo added 95 runs for the opening stand.

After coming back from the first halt forced by rain, Krunal Pandya came up with the first breakthrough for RCB as he clinched the crucial scalp of Kulkarni (17). However, that did very little to deter the LSG spirits as Marsh, joined by Nicholas Pooran, motored along perfectly.

Marsh (111) and Pooran (38) added 70 runs for the second wicket with rain compelling another stoppage in the middle. After the second halt in play, the game lost an over as it was reduced to 19 per innings. Josh Hazlewood eventually struck to remove Marsh and Rasikh Salam Dar provided the important wicket of Nicky P. LSG never really looked like that they would be daunted by the fall of wickets.

For them the equation was simple. They wanted to go after every ball they faced. They had a fine conclusion to the innings with Rishabh Pant hammering an unbeaten 32 off just 10 balls, propelling them to 209 at the end of 19 overs. The revised target for RCB was 213. Krunal Pandya was the pick of the lot for RCB with figures of 1/31 from four overs.

RCB were jolted to a rude awakening as they lost both their openers even before the wheels could come into motion. Jacob Bethell (4) and Virat Kohli (0) were gone in a heartbeat. Mohammed Shami claimed the wicket of Bethell while Kohli fell to Prince Yadav, who was the star bowler for LSG.

Wobbling at 9/2, RCB needed something special to stabilize the ship. Captain Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal joined forces to work around the clock as the building blocks were placed. After being wary initially, the gears shifted and Rajat Patidar led the charge for the Royal Challengers.

Patidar and DDP's partnership added 95 runs from just 53 balls. Padikkal (34) played the second fiddle to Patidar’s dazzling brilliance. The fall of DDP ruffled RCB's feathers again as Jitesh Sharma (1) and soon Patidar , after a 31-ball 61, were also on their way back to the pavilion.

But before LSG could make any further inroads, Tim David conjured another solid charge to keep them at bay. A 17-ball-40 featuring four fours and three sixes saw the Aussie scoring at a rate of 235.29. However, as the saying goes, you live by the sword, you die by it too and over-aggression came with a shelf life for David.

He eventually fell to Shahbaz Ahmed who claimed Patidar's wicket as well, once again posing a few questions. The fall of David left the Royal Challengers with too much to do. Despite Krunal Pandya’s 16-ball-28* and Romario Shepherd’s unbeaten 15-ball-23, RCB fell short of the finish line by nine runs.