In a thrilling Match 15 of TATA IPL 2023, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) secured a sensational one-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match 15 of TATA IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on 10th April 2023.
RCB won the toss and elected to bat first. Faf du Plessis (79* off 46), Virat Kohli (61 off 44), and Glenn Maxwell (59 off 29) propelled RCB to an imposing total of 212/2 in their 20 overs. In response, LSG was jolted early as Mohd. Siraj dismissed Kyle Mayers (0) in the third ball of the innings. The RCB bowlers were disciplined and reduced LSG to 23/3, with Deepak Hooda (9 off 10) and Krunal Pandya (0 off 2) falling to Wayne Parnell. LSG hobbled their way to 37/3 at the end of Powerplay.
Marcus Stoinis (65 off 30) finally upped the scoring with two fours and a six off Harshal Patel and two fours and a six off Karn Sharma, amassing 33 off two overs. He reached his fifty off 25 balls with another six, and hit another one the same over as LSG reached 91/3 at the halfway mark. KL Rahul (18 off 20) and Ayush Badoni then supported Stoinis. Nicholas Pooran joined Badoni, and the duo went on a boundary-hitting spree, taking the team's total to 147/4 in 14 overs.
Pooran (62 off 19) was dealing in sixes, and he hit two more along with a four off Harshal to bring the required run rate under 10. He brought up his fifty off just 15 balls with a fantastic six down the ground, off Parnell, which was the fastest fifty of the season so far. With 42 needed off 30 balls, the boundaries continued to flow as Badoni steered one to third man for a four off Willey and Pooran swung one over deep square leg for yet another six to get the equation down to 28 off 24.
Siraj then came back to bowl a brilliant over as he had the dangerman Pooran caught at the fine leg with a full toss, and gave away just four runs. Badoni (38 off 28) and Jaydev Unadkat (11 off 10) added 17 off 10 balls before Badoni was out hit wicket trying to ramp one over fine leg. He hit the ball over the ropes but ended up flicking his bat onto the stumps, off Parnell. The equation came down to 5 off the last over, and RCB was hit by the over-rate penalty, allowing only four fielders outside the circle.
Unadkat took a single off the first ball of the last over from Harshal. However, Harshal castled Mark Wood (1) with a dipping slower delivery off the next ball. Bishnoi came to the crease with four needed off four and placed one sensibly in the gap at the point and rushed for two runs. He then pulled the next one to fine leg for a single to level the scores.
The drama wasn't over yet as, with one needed off two, Unadkat hit one uppishly straight to long on, where du Plessis pouched a juggling catch. With one needed off one, Harshal Patel tried to run out Bishnoi, who had ventured out of his crease, at the non-striker's end, but missed the stumps, a golden opportunity.
Avesh Khan then missed his swing on the last ball by Harshal, a slower dipping one, and the keeper Dinesh Karthik also fumbled while catching the ball, and as a result, the batsmen were able to run, and score the winning run for their team, LSG.