LSG win!
Rahul-led LSG beat RCB. Here's a teaser from the report
Tearaway Mayank Yadav set the speed gun on fire once again and ripped out both Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green on his way to a three-wicket haul as Lucknow Super Giants successfully defended 181 to hand Royal Challengers Bangalore their second successive defeat at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
It was Quinton de Kock who had laid the base for Super Giants’ victory with his second successive half-century. KL Rahul returned to action as Super Giants’ captain but he could only manage 20 off 14 balls. Nicholas Pooran, who had captained Super Giants in their last game against Punjab Kings, though clicked into a higher gear, smashing an unbeaten 40 off 21 balls to drag his team past 180 on a two-paced Chinnaswamy pitch.
The back-of-the-hand slower balls from Reece Topley and Yash Dayal were sticking in the surface, but Mayank doesn’t do slow. He repeatedly breached 150kph - and even cranked it up to a season-high 156.7kph – to shut down RCB’s chase.
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Lomror gives RCB hope
Lomror, the Impact Player, has raced away to 32 off 11 balls, including three sixes and three fours. The pick of the lot is a ramped four over the keeper's head, off a slower ball from Naveen-ul-Haq. Lomror was initially shaping to hook it over the leg side, but adjusted at the last moment and guided it over Rahul. The RCB crowd finds its voice once again.
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Mayank in fine company
Sampath Bandarupalli: Three-plus wicket hauls in first two matches in the IPL:
Lasith Malinga
Amit Singh
Kevon Cooper
Mayank Markande
Jofra Archer
Mayank Yadav
Amit Singh
Kevon Cooper
Mayank Markande
Jofra Archer
Mayank Yadav
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RCB five down and sinking
Anuj Rawat is on 11 off 20 balls. He is searching for the release. He jumps out of the crease but this short ball from Stoinis gets too big on him. Rawat can only plink it as far as mid-on. RCB stumble further to 94 for 5 in the 13th over. Mahipal Lomror slots in as an Impact Player, replacing Dayal.
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The thrill of watching Mayank Yadav
Shashank Kishore from the Chinnaswamy: "There's a deathly silence around the Chinnaswamy. It's one thing to know what's coming but a completely different thing to have a plan against it. Mayank Yadav's has had everybody glancing up to the screens for the speed after every ball. The more poignant moment to me was when Morne Morkel came up to him and had a few quiet words of advice at the time-out. If you're having someone of Green's calibre staying leg side of the ball visibly because he's worried about the bounce and the short ball, you really are quick."
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Pace is pace yaar
Hold onto your hats! Mayank Yadav is here and he blasts out Maxwell with his fourth ball. RCB fall to 43 for 3 in the sixth over.
He cranks it up to 151kph and rushes one of the best batters in the world for pace and bounce. Maxwell can only weakly flap it to mid-on.
In his next over, Mayank rips out Cam Green, another big-hitting Australian. After pushing him back with the short ball, he fires a full one that angles in and then straightens away late to hit the top of off before racing away to the boundary. The reading on the speedgun is 145kph, but it looked a whole lot faster than that. Rahul is pumped, as is Mayank.
Mayank has cranked it up to 156.7kph - the fastest ball this IPL - and hushed the Chinnaswamy.
At one point, Mayank didn't even have a run-up. He is now setting the IPL alight with his searing pace and bounce. Nagraj Gollapudi tracks the rise of Mayank Yadav
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Siddharth arrives in the IPL
M Siddharth was born in Jakarta in Indonesia. He moved to Chennai to become a professional cricketer. He wanted to become the next Irfan Pathan, but the coaches in his academy noted that he didn't have enough pace to become a fast bowler.
Even after switching to left-arm fingerspin, he continues to swing the new ball. Swinging the new ball is his calling card in the TNPL. S Sriram, who is with LSG as an assistant coach, watched him closely and tracked his progress in the TNPL. LSG's team management has so much faith in him that they back him to bowl with the new ball against Kohli and Faf.
After bowling inswingers at 115kph in his first two overs, Siddharth drops his pace and draws a leading edge from Kohli. After being a net bowler for MI and CSK in the last two seasons, Siddharth finally arrives in the IPL. Kohli is gone for 22 off 16 balls. In the next over, Faf is run-out for 19 off 13. RCB are 42 for 2 in the sixth over.
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Nicky P tees off at the death
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This is the 19th over of LSG's innings.
RCB left-arm seamers had slowed LSG down by banging back-of-the-hand slower balls into the pitch. These variations can render most batters powerless.
But Pooran is not most batters. He shanks a 110.4kph slower ball from wide outside off into the roof for a monster six. Earlier in the over, when Topley missed the wide yorkers, Pooran had scythed him for sixes over point.
In the final over of the innings, Pooran takes Siraj for a brace of sixes to drag LSG to 181 for 5.
Maxwell says that the pitch is two-paced and that RCB's batters would have to be at their best to chase it down.
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Maxwell impresses with the ball
Maxwell also takes out the big-hitting Stoinis and finishes with 4-0-23-2 at a venue that often spooks bowlers.
He fronted up to bowl two overs in the powerplay, where he dismissed Rahul. He then returned to hide one away from Stoinis' swinging arc.
Maxwell had also pinned down de Kock to 4 off 8 balls. Job well done
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Back-to-back fifties for de Kock
Quinton de Kock started IPL 2023 on the bench for LSG. Kyle Mayers was preferred ahead of him. De Kock got only four IPL games last season.
De Kock was then removed as DSG's captain in SA20 2024. He had a lean run in that SA20, but has hit the ground running in IPL 2024, with two fifty-plus scores in his first three innings. De Kock now looks good for a hundred.
Stoinis is also cranking up the tempo at the other end for LSG.
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Siraj bounces out Padikkal
After sending down three wides, including two for height, Siraj dismisses Padikkal with the short ball. He bangs it into the deck and slants it away from the left-hander, from right-arm over. Padikkal is late onto the hook and splices a top-edge, which is held by the keeper running back, for 6 off 11 balls. There's something for the bowlers when they hit this Chinnaswamy pitch. LSG are 73 for 2 in nine overs.
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In focus: Reece Topley
Here's Matt Roller: "Reece Topley is in a curious but by no means unique position today: playing for one of his employers against another. He spent January and February representing Sanjiv Goenka’s Durban Super Giants in the SA20, taking 13 wickets as they finished second, but is playing against their parent franchise tonight for RCB.
"England have been keeping close tabs on Topley through the winter and he withdrew from a planned stint at the Pakistan Super League last month in order to maximise his chances of playing in the T20 World Cup, having missed the 2022 edition due to injury. If he is fit and firing, he is a banker for the provisional squad which they must name before May 1."
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Maxwell strikes in the powerplay for RCB
RCB have picked three swing bowlers in their XI for this fixture on a grassy surface, but it is Maxwell who provides them the opening breakthrough.
Rahul had just slog-swept him over the leg side for six. Patidar leapt to his right from deep square leg, stretched out his right hand to only parry it over the fence.
Maxwell then hits a hard length on off stump next ball. Rahul aims to pump it over the leg side, but ends up splicing a catch to extra-cover for 20 off 14 balls. LSG are 54 for 1 in six overs.
One Bengaluru boy replaces another. Here is Devdutt Padikkal. Maxwell has two left-handers to work with now.
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Kohli ticks off another landmark
100 No of T20s for Kohli at the Chinnaswamy Stadium
Kohli is the 15th player to feature in 100 matches at a single venue in men's T20s," notes stats wiz Sampath Bandarupalli. "As many as 11 of them have played 100-plus T20s at Mirpur, Dhaka. The other three players are Alex Hales (Trent Bridge), Samit Patel (Trent Bridge) and James Vince (The Rose Bowl)"
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De Kock dashes out of the blocks
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This is the first over bowled by the returning Topley. He surprised de Kock with a sharp bouncer and drew a top-eged hook, but when he offered width, de Kock latched onto it and punished the left-arm seamer. In the next over, bowled by Mohammed Siraj Yash Dayal, de Kock finds another four. It might not be too long before Siraj is brought into the attack. Meanwhile, Vyshak, their best bowler from the last game and one of the best bowlers on display during the Ranji Trophy, is on the bench.
Okay, Siraj is into the attack in the third over and de Kock welcomes him with back-to-back leg-side sixes. He has sprinted to 29 off 13 balls
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Musings from the Chinnaswamy
Here's Shashank Kishore: "Beyond belief how RCB don't rate Vyshak Vijaykumar. Surely after the game he had against KKR, figures of 4-0-23-1, you'd think he'd be in the starting XI. He also had a superb domestic season as a lower-order batter. You'd think he'd be considered an allrounder.
The only reasoning for him not playing despite RCB bowling first is that they think they need Mahipal Lomror or Suyash Prabhudessai with the bat later in the chase."
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RCB opt to chase; Mohsin out with a niggle for LSG
Alzarri Joseph drops out of RCB's XI, with England left-arm swing bowler Reece Topley replacing him on a grassy pitch. Topley is a Super Giant in the SA20, but he will now be up against the franchise in the IPL. Some other patches of the Chinnaswamy track are dry, though. LSG's left-arm seamer Mohsin Khan, however, will not be in action today as he is nursing a back niggle. So, Vidarbha's right-arm quick Yash Thakur gets a game for LSG.
LSG: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 KL Rahul (capt), 4 Marcus Stoinis, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Ayush Badoni, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Yash Thakur, 10 Mayank Yadav, 11 Naveen-ul-Haq
Impact Sub options: M Siddharth, Shamar Joseph, Amit Mishra, K Gowtham, Deepak Hooda
RCB: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Anuj Rawat (wk), 8 Reece Topley, 9 Mayank Dagar, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yash Dayal
Impact Sub options: Mahipal Lomror, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Karn Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Suyash Prabhudessai
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KL Rahul returns as LSG captain
In LSG’s last game against PBKS, at home, Rahul handed over the captaincy to Pooran and only slotted in as an Impact Player. IPL 2024 is Rahul's comeback tournament after a quadricep injury had ruled him out of the last four Tests of the five-match series at home against England earlier this year. LSG are just easing him back into action. On the eve of their game against RCB, Rahul did not keep wicket for most of the training session. Will the Bengaluru boy return to action as LSG’s captain at the Chinnaswamy Stadium? Yes, indeed, Rahul walks out for the toss along with RCB captain Faf du Plessis.
“It’s a bit different,” Rahul says with a smile. Bengaluru welcomes him back with some cheers. “Used to coming here and walking into the home team dressing room. Different to be walking into the opposition dressing room.”
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Welcome!
It's RCB vs LSG in Bengaluru. These two teams have a bit of history between them. The last time these two sides faced each other at this venue, in IPL 2023, it boiled down to the last ball, with Avesh Khan scrambling a bye to win it for LSG amid high drama. Then, there was a heated exchange between Kohli and Gambhir when RCB met LSG in Lucknow last season. Gambhir is no longer with LSG and the exchange wasn't as hostile when RCB met KKR at the Chinnaswamy Stadium last Friday. Avesh isn't with LSG either, but the big-hitters on both teams and Chinnaswamy conditions could still be ingredients for another high-voltage clash.
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