Royal Challengers Bangalore found an unsung hero in Rajat Patidar, on Wednesday, who powered them to the IPL 2022 Qualifiers with a thrilling 14-run win over Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. 28-year-old Patidar slammed a 49-ball century to help Bangalore post a daunting 207/4 in 20 overs. Defending the mammoth total, RCB managed to restrict the star-studded LSG batting line-up to 193/6 in 20 overs.
Josh Hazlewood produced a sensational penultimate over where he dismissed KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya in the consecutive deliveries to shift momentum in RCB’s favour. While Harshal Patel once again brought his A-game to the table in the crunch situation to put a brake on the scoring rate. He bowled the difficult overs and ended the match with 1/25 in his quota of 4 overs.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore will now clash against Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 2 at Narendra Modi Stadium on May 27.
Chasing the massive target, Lucknow lost their in-form opener Quinton de Kock early as he was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj after scoring just 6. Manan Vohra was promoted in the mega clash as he came out to bat at number 3 but he failed to capitalize on the good start as Hazlewood got the better of him for 19. Rahul then joined hands with Deepak Hooda as the duo stabilized the LSG chase and kept the run rate in check.
Rahul and Hooda shared 96-run stand for the third wicket as the latter played the role of aggressor in his 45-run knock which was laced with 4 monstrous sixes and a four. Rahul, who enjoyed batting against RCB, struck 5 sixes and 3 fours during his 79-run knock but he lost his wicket in the penultimate over as LSG failed to hold their nerves in the end to chase the massive total
LSG vs RCB Match Highlights IPL 2022 Eliminator
Earlier, Patidar remained unbeaten on 112 off 54 balls in which he hit 7 sixes and 12 fours. He became the first uncapped player to slam a century in the playoffs of the Indian Premier League.
On a day their famed batting duo trio of Faf du Plessis (0), Glenn Maxwell (9) and Virat Kohli (25) failed to enthrall a capacity Eden crowd, RCB’s No, 3 played out of his skin as 90 runs came in fours and sixes off just 19 balls. While most of the star-studded RCB batters struggled for timing, the 28-year-old looked effortless with his slices, punches, counter-punches and drives to tower over the rest.
He along with Dinesh Karthik (37 not out from 23 balls) put on a match-turning unbroken partnership of 92 runs from 41 balls as RCB scored 84 runs in the last five overs to prop up the total.
Mohsin Khan was the only saving grace for LSG in the bowling department as he finished with 1/25 in his quota of 4 overs.
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