Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 14 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and set up a Qualifier 2 clash against Rajasthan Royals. RCB will play RR on Friday for a place in the title clash against Gujarat Titans who stormed into the final after their victory over the Royals on Qualifier 1.
Chasing 208, Lucknow Super Giants lost Quinton de Kock in the first over but they were in the game thanks to skipper KL Rahul (79 off 58) and Deepak Hooda (45 off 26). But Hooda’s wicket in the 15th over shifted the momentum in favour of Bangalore and if Lucknow had any hopes, they were dashed by Josh Hazlewood who dismissed KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya off successive deliveries in the 19th over.
LSG needed 24 off the last over but that was never going to be easy against a disciplined and determined Harshal Patel and RCB clinched victory to finally go past the Eliminators after missing out in 2020 and 2021 when they had lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively.
Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul won the toss and decided to bowl in overcast conditions in Kolkata. He was rewarded immediately when Mohsin Khan removed RCB skipper Faf du Plessis for a golden duck.
Virat Kohli hung around for a 24-ball 25 before Avesh Khan gave LSG another breakthrough. Glenn Maxwell and Mahipal Lomror did not do much but RCB were boosted by the innings of Rajat Patidar, who smashed his maiden IPL hundred.
Rajat Patidar reached his hundred off just 49 balls – this is now the fastest hundred by an uncapped player in the IPL. He is also only the fifth player to hit a hundred in the IPL playoffs.
Rajat Patidar finished with 112 not out off 54 balls and added 92 off 41 balls with Dinesh Karthik, who continued his fine form this season with an unbeaten 37 off 23 balls as RCB reached 207 for 4 off their 20 overs.
LSG INNINGS
Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul have been in sublime form for Lucknow Super Giants – the two openers have scored over a thousand runs between them and their contributions were going to be crucial if they harboured any hopes of chasing that mammoth total.
However, LSG were rocked early when Mohammed Siraj removed the in-form de Kock in the first over of the LSG innings.
Manan Vohra walked in at No.3 and hit an 11-ball 19 including 2 sixes to give the LSG chase some momentum as KL Rahul decided to take his time and rotated the strike to let the more aggressive batter do his thing.
Manan Vohra’s innings was cut short by Josh Hazlewood – his short of the length delivery did the trick for RCB when Vohra tried to hit it over midwicket and was nicely caught by Shahbaz Ahmed in the fifth over.
Deepak Hooda, another of LSG’s batting heroes, joined KL Rahul at the crease and the two played an important role in keeping the team in the hunt. At the halfway stage, LSG reached 89 for 2, needing 119 off 60 balls for a place in Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals.
The chase was getting tense and Deepak Hooda, who had batted beautifully, seemed to be losing his rhythm. Shahbaz Ahmed bowled a great final over of his spell, giving away just 6 runs and LSG needed 99 off 7 overs at that stage.
Four of those overs would be bowled by Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel, who had strangled LSG’s batters with some sharp bowling. There were two more left in Hazlewood’s quota while Mohammed Siraj, who picked Quintin de Kock, also had one over left.
LSG needed something special and KL Rahul cut loose with a six off the first ball of Hazlewood’s third over. Deepak Hooda hit him for another six and Lucknow seemed like they were on their way.
That Hazelwood over, his third and the 14th of the LSG innings, cost RCB 16 runs.
More drama would follow in the next over when Deepak Hooda hit Hasaranga for two sixes before he perished to a ‘wrong-un’ and departed for 45 off 26 balls.
The wicket brought Marcus Stoinis to the middle with KL Rahul who held the key to Lucknow’s chances.
Stoinis hit the second ball he faced for a huge six and RCB ended up conceding 18 runs in the 15th over and the equation was now down to 65 off 30 balls for Lucknow Super Giants.
KL Rahul continued his golden run, hit Hasaranga and a six and a four and went past 600 runs in IPL 2022. LSG now had Qualifier 2 within sight with 41 needed off the last 3 overs and a set Rahul along with Stoinis in the middle.
However, LSG had to deal with two overs from Harshal Patel, who had been miserly until that point.
Harshal started the 18th over with wides, one of which resulted in 5 runs after he bowled it outside the tram line and Dinesh Karthik failed to collect it behind the stumps.
But Harshal had Stoinis caught by Rajat Patidar at deep extra cover to bring RCB back in the game. Evin Lewis joined KL Rahul with LSH needing 35 off 15 balls.
Josh Hazlewood bowled a sensational 19th over and removed KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya off successive deliveries and the writing was on the wall for LSG.
PATIDAR SLAMS HUNDRED
Faf du Plessis, the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, was dismissed for a golden duck but Rajat Patidar slammed a sensational maiden IPL hundred to help his team to 207 for 4 off their 20 overs against Lucknow Super Giants.
Rajat Patidar was a late addition to RCB’s playing XI but he played some impactful knocks. He scored a quick 52 against Gujarat Titans in only his second match of the season when Virat Kohli laboured his way to a slow half-century. Patidar followed that up with scores of 21, 48 and 26 in the next few matches.
Rajat Patidar reserved his best for the Eliminator after Mumbai Indians’ victory over Delhi Capitals gave RCB passage into the playoffs. He was dropped in the 90s but he stormed to his hundred with a six to become the fifth centurion in the IPL playoffs. He finished with an unbeaten 112 off 54 balls and hit 12 fours and 7 sixes.
Mohsin Khan, who finished with impressive figures of 1 for 25 off his 4 overs, struck a huge blow to RCB in the first over of the innings to send back du Plessis, who had top-scored with 96 in the previous match between these two sides.
Rajat Patidar joined Virat Kohli at the crease and the two added 66 for the second wicket to steer RCB out of trouble.
However, Virat Kohli, who had smashed 73 in RCB’s final league game against Gujarat Titans, could never really get going and he was dismissed by Avesh Khan for 25 off 24 balls.
Glenn Maxwell came in at No.4 and lasted only 10 balls for his 9 while Mahipal Lomror perished to Ravi Bishnoi after looking aggressive during his 9-ball 14.
The night belonged to Rajat Patidar, who was in explosive form and took on Krunal Pandya to hit him for 20 runs early in the innings. While the big guns failed to deliver in a big game, Patidar played some mind-numbing shots to take RCB towards a huge total.
Dinesh Karthik made it back to the Indian team on the back of his sensational run lower down the order for RCB and on Wednesday, he came out and hit some quick runs again. He was lucky to be dropped on 2 and he then made the most of it to give his side a strong finish.
Rajat Patidar and Dinesh Karthik added an unbroken 92 off 41 balls as RCB plundered 84 runs off the last 5 overs.
While Patidar rode his luck to a fantastic hundred, Dinesh Karthik remained not out on 37 off 23 balls in an innings studded with 5 fours and 1 six.
RCB had lost the last two Eliminators against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2020 and Kolkata Knight Riders in 2021 but they made a great impression against Lucknow Super Giants this year.