Catches win matches, but so do other things. Krunal Pandya may want to forget the spilled catch that triggered a promising resistance from Rajat Patidar, or Deepak Hooda the missed run out of Mahipal Lomror who raised hopes with a scintillating counterattack. Nicholas Pooran however held his share of catches apart from affecting a brilliant run out as Lucknow Super Giants beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 28 runs at Bengaluru on Tuesday.
On a greenish but two-paced pitch, Quinton de Kock tempered his instincts to carve a 56-ball 81 before Marcus Stoinis and Pooran provided a late order surge in the form of seven sixes.
Once again stealing the show however was speedster Mayank Yadav, clocking 156 kph this time, dismissing Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green and almost getting Dinesh Karthik; but more significantly, finishing with an impressive economy of 3.5. The 21-year-old just built on his sensational 3/27 against Punjab Kings three days earlier on his IPL debut.
RCB still came alive late courtesy Lomror’s 12-ball 33, but LSG kept landing the punches to eke out a good win. Half the job however was already done within the first Powerplay. And it all began with the dismissal of Virat Kohli. Mastering the chase is the chief reason Kohli is still considered for white-ball selection but that reputation could have taken a small hit on Tuesday after he came down the pitch and miscued slow left-arm bowler Manimaran Siddharth to backward point when the momentum of that over had already been set with a boundary through point off the previous ball.
Two runs in the next four balls probably pressed Faf du Plessis into calling Rajat Patidar for a single clipping Yadav towards midwicket but Devdutt Padikkal was quick to swoop on it and coolly run him out despite having just one stump to aim at. Two balls later, pace got the better of Glenn Maxwell as he got a top edge off Yadav trying to pull a 151 kph delivery. Three wickets, all of the bigwigs, gone in the space of nine deliveries and RCB were woefully behind in the chase from that point onwards. More misery came their way when Yadav surprised Cameron Green with a length ball outside off that straightened and beat him for pace to disturb his off-stump.
Had it not been for Patidar’s vigil, RCB’s innings could have gone further south after that dismissal. But Anuj Rawat couldn’t get started at all, taking up 21 balls to score just 11, making the required run rate soar till something had to give. Rawat and Patidar fell in quick succession but Lomror infused some life into the chase, hitting 6,4 and 6 off Yash Thakur in the 16th over. Thakur though removed Lomror with a fuller ball that he couldn’t club past Pooran in the deep, and that was that for RCB’s chase.
RCB could have been chasing less, but it was also a curious innings from LSG in many ways. Fifty runs from the last five overs isn’t par any more in IPL, more so when 30 of those came from five hits off Pooran’s bat. Not many teams can brag about bowling fifty plus dot balls in an innings, certainly not RCB who have a rather unfortunate history of never getting their bowling rosters right. And it seemed to go that way too when Mayank Dagar and Cameron Green bowled four back-to-back overs to aggregate 49 runs for RCB’s fifth-bowler quota, almost negating the pressure built up by Glenn Maxwell’s slow off-breaks.
It helped Marcus Stoinis and de Kock release the pressure, as the two added 56 runs in 30 balls and took LSG to a threatening 121/2 in 13 overs. Maxwell returned and Stoinis looked to have had a measure of him when he muscled him over deep midwicket for a huge six. Three balls later though, Stoinis backed away too early to pull off a premeditated hoick, only to end up being stretched into a slice to Dagar at point.
This was the time Yash Dayal and Mohammad Siraj were mixing up the slowers and short balls well, taking the sting out of the pulls and drives. De Kock finally broke the deadlock with two boundaries but in came Reece Topley, who removed him with a back-of-the-hand slower ball in a two-run over. Badoni gone in the next over, Pooran had to take charge and that resulted in five sixes in the next two overs, giving LSG’s innings just the flourish they needed at the end.
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