IPL 2022: Match 31, LSG vs RCB – Who Said What

The high-spirited Royal Challengers Bangalore continued their stellar run in IPL 2022 after getting better of Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs in the 31^st clash of IPL 2022. Having better luck at the toss, KL Rahul chose to bowl first at Dr. DY Patil Stadium and restricted the opposite end on 181 runs despite Faf du Plessis going bonkers in the game.

As soon as RCB started to bat, they were in for some early jolts as Anuj Rawat and Virat Kohli were sent packing in the very first over. However, as soon as skipper Du Plessis pitched in, it was all pomp and show for the Red Army as he smashed 96 off 64 deliveries. None of the other batters were able to contribute while some handy contribution from Shahbaz Ahmed (26 off 22) meant that RCB breached the 180-run mark. Jason Holder was the best man from LSG’s bowling artillery as he picked two wickets while conceding at 6.25.

Josh Hazlewood was the man with a golden arm for RCB

When LSG began to chase, Quinton de Kock went early while KL Rahul did bring some respectable runs (30 off 24) on the table. Till the time Krunal Pandya was on the crease, it looked a little hopeful for LSG as he played a fine innings of 42 off 28. However, the asking rate kept climbing and the Lucknow batters failed to bring enough firepower to get over the line at the end. Josh Hazlewood turned out to be the man with the golden arm as he bagged a four-for while conceding at 6.25.

Winning skipper and Player of the Match Faf du Plessis said:

Due to the nature of this ground, you do run a lot of twos and towards the end, it can be tiring. I got a few 96, and a 97, so hopefully (a ton) is around the corner. We needed someone to stabilise the innings and then get going at the back end. Today, grateful that I could do it. Important that I am able to follow my blueprint of batting. If you bowled slow into the wicket to the big boundary, it never felt like you had enough power to clear that boundary. I was tired, but was still hoping that I could hit some at the end. Early in the innings, there was help for the bowlers and they did get us in trouble but we found a way. Our bowlers then stuck to the plans and when you do that on a ground like this, it’s tough for the batters. At the moment, lot of teams at the top, and many in the middle, and when that happens, it’s always a scramble (for playoff spots). But that’s out of our control. We need to just keep working on our strengths and we actually can get better in a few things. Need one guy to bat through consistently, but we haven’t had that frequently. DK has saved us quite a bit, hopefully today is a stepping stone in that direction. Before the last two games, it (death bowling) was a concern as we were getting hit in areas we shouldn’t have been. But in the last two games, we’ve got hit to where we’ve wanted to. Harshal has been exceptional, watch out for him, he’s going to be special for the rest of the season too.

Losing skipper, KL Rahul said:

I think we started really well, after getting two wickets in the first over and then give away 50 in the powerplay, we could have done better. 180 on that pitch was 15-20 extra runs we gave away, we couldn’t really squeeze in the middle and with the bat as well we needed one in the top three to go deep and the other batters to bat around him and unfortunately we couldn’t do that. We have a really good team, very happy with how we are playing, yes a couple of games we could have done better. I think we started well against Rajasthan and here as well we put them under pressure but we couldn’t sustain for much longer. Everyone has chipped in and everyone looks in good form and everyone scored for us. Important that one or two guys who have a good day they need to dig in and take the team through.