An upbeat Royal Challengers Bangalore got the better of another upbeat team - Lucknow Super Giants - in match 31 of IPL 2022.
Batting first, RCB put up a total of 181 runs on the board. Captain Faf du Plessis led from the front, missing a century by just four runs. His knock of 96 was laced with 11 boundaries and two maximums.
Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed then played important cameos. Maxwell's 23 runs came at a strike rate of almost 210 while Ahmed remained unbeaten on 26 off 22.
Among the LSG bowlers who bowled their full spell of four overs, Ravi Bishnoi was the most expensive. He conceded 47 runs in four overs while not taking any wicket. Meanwhile, Dushmantha Chameera and Jason Holder picked up two wickets each.
Chasing 182 to win, Lucknow's otherwise solid batting line up failed to put up a good fight. Krunal Pandya's knock of 42 was the only knock that had some intent. Although KL Rahul did not get a big score, he achieved a new feat, overtaking Virat Kohli to become the fastest Indian to 6000 T20 runs. Overall, he is the third fastest to the mark behind Chris Gayle and Babar Azam.
Josh Hazlewood was the standout bowler for RCB. He picked up four wickets in four overs while conceding only 25 runs. Harshal Patel also picked up two wickets but he was a tad bit expensive.
With this win, RCB are now second in the points table with five wins in seven matches. LSG have moved down to the fourth place with four wins in seven games.
Image credit: IPL
