Royal Challengers Bangalore are on a roll, they defeated Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday at the DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai by 18 runs to go second in the league table in Indian Premier League (IPL).
Skipper Faf du Plessis scored 96 runs in 64 balls, combined with Josh Hazlewood's fiery spell of 4/25 they were able to help RCB pick up their fifth win in seven games.
After having been sent out to bat first, RCB managed to score 181/6 in their respective 20 overs, and he was ably supported by Shahbaz Ahmed (26 off 22) and later by DK (13 off 8).
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In reply, Lucknow Super Giants tried their best but kept losing wickets at regular intervals which derailed their chase.
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The 37-year-old du Plessis roared back to form after a string of low scores with a 64-ball knock to help RCB post 181 for six after being sent into bat.
Pace spearhead Hazlewood (4/25) then picked two wickets upfront and two at the fag end as RCB restricted LSG to 163 for eight to register their fifth win of the season.
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Both Hazlewood and du Plessis' brilliant individual performances, though, may be a bit overshadowed by the chatter around the two ball sequence leading to Marcus Stoinis' wicket in which a wide outside off wasn't called followed by him shuffling way too much in the next delivery and playing on.
Nevertheless, RCB are now second in the points table while LSG slumped to fourth.
Opening the innings, du Plessis, who failed to put up a big score since his sensational 88 in RCB's first game of the season, anchored the innings to perfection and got out only on the penultimate ball of the final over.
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Hazlewood rocked LSG's chase early on as he bowled a fine opening spell. Using the bounce and movement on offer, he accounted for the dangerous Quinton de Kock (3) and Manish Pandey (6) in quick time.
The Australian quick, who was consistent with his line and length, bowled a frugal spell, giving away just 25 runs.
With inputs from PTI
