Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 18 runs over Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on May 1 in the ongoing IPL 2023. Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to bat. They managed only 126 runs where only Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis reached the double-digits alongside Dinesh Karthik. Naveen-ul-Haq picked up 3 for 30.
While chasing, Lucknow Super Giants also had a poor start. They lost both openers very cheaply. However, they were never in the chase as no player could manage to hold the chase as well. Krishnappa Gowtham top-scored with 23 and they eventually lost the game as well.
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Here is what the captains and the player of the match said after the game:
Faf du Plessis, Player of the Match said as quoted by Cricbuzz: Opposite, complete opposites (the pitch here vs Chinnaswamy). We played really well in the first six overs. That’s when you can play the same way. To have a fifty partnership in the six overs was match changing. Batting first was important. Spinners was hard work. Even Mahipal got the ball to hold. If you can bowl the ball on a good area, it’s pretty hard to score. Would’ve liked 135 – in my mind that was a really good score. Before we went on the field, we said to the guys it’s a match-winning score. Felt if we get 2-3 in the powerplay, especially with KL not being there, it’s going to be difficult. Super happy for Karn. Just one of those guys who does the hard work all the time but doesn’t get the recognition. Great to have Hazlewood back. Nothing to the guys who’ve filled his shoes. But good to have him.
Krunal Pandya, LSG stand-in captain said as quoted by Cricbuzz: We did pretty well, restricting them to 126 was a great bowling effort. Really happy with how we have bowled in this tournament. We would have taken 126 but batting-wise we did not execute our plans. It is such a sad thing he pulled his hip-flexor. I don’t know how bad it is, the medical team will assess it.
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Josh Hazlewood said as quoted by Cricbuzz: It’s been a long layoff, a bit nervous getting out there. Great to be out there in front of some good fans. The wicket looked quite tough, would have liked a few more runs. It was super loud (the venue) for both teams and it (intensity) gets the crowd up and the team up as well.
