Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs in a low-scoring IPL 2023 match on May 1at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
Batting first, RCB scored 126/9 in 20 overs in a game that was temporarily interrupted by rain.
While skipper Faf du Plessis scoring 44 and opening partner Virat Kohli contributing 31. In nine overs, the partnership scored 62 runs. After the innings break, RCB's bowlers hit the ground running, dismissing LSG for 108 in 19.5 overs on a sluggish pitch.
The fact that LSG skipper KL Rahul was injured while fielding and only came on to bat after nine wickets had fallen. At that time, Rahul-led team required 24 runs off eight balls and eventually the team fell short by 18 runs.
The finest RCB bowlers were spinner Karn Sharma and pacer Josh Hazlewood, who took 2/20 and 2/15, respectively.
JioCinema IPL expert Robin Uthappa was extremely impressed with the spinner's performance, saying:
"He was dropped after performing so well, especially getting wickets in Bangalore. Not very expensive but still getting wickets, which is crucial in Bangalore. He didn't figure in the side after Hasaranga came into the XI. You can never have too many leg-spinners in a T20 game, can you?"
Meanwhile, some heated exchanges between Kohli and former India opener Gautam Gambhir, who is now the LSG squad's coach, were witnessed following the game, which JioCinema IPL expert Anil Kumble was not impressed with.
"A lot of emotion goes in but you don't want to be displaying those emotions here. This is important, you need to have a conversation. But this is something that's unacceptable. No matter what, you have to respect the opposition and the game. Once a game is over, you have to shake hands and tip your hat off, not to the player but to the game because that's something you need to respect..... I don't know what was spoken, some things may have been personal and you don't want that on the cricket field. But with Gautam and Virat and the players involved, it wasn't the nicest thing to see,"
he said.
On Rahul's injury, Kumble said:
"If KL probably was fit, we would've seen a different story here, especially on this kind of a surface."
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