Bengaluru, 15 April. Fast bowlers Rasikh Salam (4-24) and Bhunneshwar Kumar (3-27) and their co-bowlers made it easy for defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as they bundled out Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) cheaply at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday night, securing the top spot in the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL-19) points table with an impressive five-wicket win with 29 balls to spare.

Lucknow team could reach 146 runs due to the efforts of Marsh, Mukul and Badoni.

Lucknow Super Giants team, forced to bat first, failed to show strength against the opposition’s lethal bowling and with the efforts of Mitchell Marsh (40 runs, 32 balls, two sixes, three fours), Mukul Chaudhary (39 runs, 28 balls, two sixes, three fours) and Ayush Badoni (38 runs, 24 balls, one six, three fours), reached 146 runs after losing all the wickets in 20 overs. Could.

Virat Kohli again captures the Orange Cap

During the counter action, RCB scored 149 runs for five wickets in 15.1 overs with the quick efforts of other batsmen led by Virat Kohli (49 runs, 34 balls, one six, six fours), who once again captured the Orange Cap with the highest score of 228 runs in five matches.

RCB has RR and PBKS pushed back

RCB (eight points) secured the top position in the points table with their fourth win in five matches, pushing Rajasthan Royals (eight points) and Punjab Kings (seven points) to second and third place respectively. At the same time, after second consecutive and third defeat in five matches, LSG (four points) is in seventh place. Overall, a total of five teams from fourth to eighth place have four points each.

If we look at RCB’s innings while chasing a weak target, even though Phil Salt (seven runs, one four) became the victim of Prince Yadav (3-32) in the second over, Kohli picked up the pace as soon as he landed. He hit one six and six fours on the first 14 balls in front.

Partnership of 57 runs between Kohli and Padikkal

In this sequence, RCB scored 60 runs in the power play, at that time Kohli had scored 32 runs on 14 balls. But as soon as the field expanded and LSG started bowling the balls at the right length, it became difficult to score runs. It can be easily guessed that Kohli could score only 17 runs in his last 20 balls. Avesh Khan (2-23) broke the 57-run partnership in 34 balls by returning Devdutt Padikkal (10 runs, one four) in the eighth over. The same bowler also dismissed Kohli, who remained one run away from his third half-century of the season.

score card

Well, captain Rajat Patidar (27 runs, 13 balls, three sixes, one four) and Jitesh Sharma (23 runs, nine balls, two sixes, two fours) showed their sharp hands and brought the team close to the target by adding 35 runs in just 13 balls. However, Prince returned both in the 13th over. But Tim David (14 not out, eight balls, one six, one four) and Romario Rutherford (14 not out, eight balls, one six, one four) ensured the team’s victory by adding unbroken 27 runs in the next 15 balls.

Rasikh and Bhuvi took wickets while Hazlewood and Krunal created pressure.

Before this, Rasikh Khan and Bhuvi, of course, took wickets of Lucknow at regular intervals. But the ‘Player of the Match’ became Kangaroo pacer Josh Hazlewood (1-20), playing his second match in the current season, who along with left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya (2-38) strengthened the base of RCB. Actually, both of them created pressure from one end and at the other end the batsmen kept giving away wickets due to mistakes.

Lucknow captain Rishabh Pant suffered injury to his left elbow.

Talking about Lucknow captain Rishabh Pant (one run, six balls), the current season has been more or less disappointing for him so far. Tonight was also very difficult for him, when he got injured on his left elbow. Due to injury on Hazlewood’s ball in the fifth over, he had to leave the field and in the 16th over when LSG’s condition was very bad, he came back, but could not be of any use to the team.

Hazlewood’s excellent bowling

In fact, due to Hazlewood bowling three of the first seven overs himself, RCB took a strong hold in the beginning. On a pitch that was dry and where the ball was coming intermittently, Hazlewood made it very difficult for the batsmen to bat by not giving them any opportunity to open their hands. When Pant tried, he got hit on his left elbow and had to leave the field due to the injury. When Nicholas Pooran (one run) tried, the ball hit his own stumps.

Hazlewood was bowling so brilliantly that at one point it seemed that he needed to field a fielder at slip and short leg. Well, with the efforts of Marsh and then Mukul, who made the biggest partnership of 36 runs with Badoni, the Lucknow team could reach close to 150 runs, which later proved insufficient to defend.

thursday match : : Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings (Mumbai, 7.30 pm).