Faf du Plessis and Josh Hazlewood put Royal Challengers in top two
Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed also played crucial roles in an 18-run victory
Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed also played crucial roles in an 18-run victory
Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: @PeterDellaPenna
11.30 pm Hazlewood's four wickets in victory may be overshadowed a touch not only by the 96 from Faf du Plessis but now the late discussion point about the two ball sequence leading to Marcus Stoinis' wicket in which a wide outside off wasn't called followed by him going way across his stumps to play the next delivery which he dragged on. It's certainly providing a fair bit of feedback.
Zeeshan: "Never liked this rule of bowling wide when baatter shift. Old rule was good. Fixed tramlines, no matter batter shifts. We are neglecting the fact that batter expose stumps while shifting and could be bowled as Stoinis did. "
Aravind: "No excuse for Stoinis here. I don't see bowlers blowing their top and flinging 5 wides down the leg side when a plumb LBW is denied with no reviews left."
Lucknow captain KL Rahul: "I think we started really well after getting two wickets in the first over, to give away 50 in the Powerplay, we should have done better. 180 on that pitch was 15 or 20 runs extra that we gave away. The pitch was sticky. We got the early breakthroughs we were looking for but we couldn't squeeze in the middle. We needed one big partnership - we saw what Faf did for RCB - I think we needed one batter in the top three or four to play a long innings and for other batters to play around with him but we couldn't get that. We didn't get partnerships and we couldn't get a squeeze on with the ball. We have a really good team. I'm happy with how we've been playing. Yes, a couple games where we could have done better, against Rajasthan and here today we put them under pressure but we couldn't sustain that for a bit longer. When we're up, we have to keep the opposition down and restrict them to as low as possible and that'll make batting easier chasing."
RCB bowler Josh Hazlewood: "It's always a challenge there at the end when batters are coming hard but we obviously had that big side there to try to use and I thought we used it pretty well all night. Faf's been brewing. He's had a few lean games coming off but tonight he took his time and kept the score going along and finished with a bang so credit to him. [On the ball not called a wide before Stoinis wicket] I tried to turn around and get back to my mark as quick as I could. I got pretty lucky on that one so I might have to get him a beer after that."
RCB captain Faf du Plessis named Player of the Match: "Because of the nature of the ground, it's quite big so you run a lot of twos. Towards the end it can get a little bit tiring but it's a good way to keep your fitness up. My elusive IPL hundred... I feel it is around the corner. Amazingly tonight we were in trouble, as we were in the last three or four games, but we have a knack of someone getting through it, stabilizing the innings, having composure and then towards the end we're a very dangerous team. Today, I'm grateful that I could do it. I was hungry for some runs. I wanted to make a big impact because the last few games had been quiet for me. I went through my own processes and blueprint for scoring runs so I had a clear mental image going into this match and glad that it paid off. [I was tiring] but I was still in a mode where I felt I could still hit the ball. If you bowled slow into the wicket to the big boundary, the ball stopped quite a bit so you never felt like you had enough power to clear the boundary. I think it was evident from everyone that big boundary, if you bowled well it was difficult to score boundaries. There was quite a bit happening in those first three or four overs. They got us in trouble and somehow we found a way and just stuck right through the innings. But the bowlers are really on the top of their game."
That's it from our coverage today. Come back tomorrow for more IPL action. On behalf of Hemant Brar on commentary, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!
David: "The umpire only missed a wide, Stonis getting out is Stonis' fault".
Bishnoi to face the final ball.
Afeef: "This is so unfair, Stoinis will get reprimanded for venting after a huge umpiring blunder."
JO Holder c Mohammed Siraj b Patel 16 (18m 9b 0x4 2x6) SR: 177.77
Shyam: "Unpopular opinion: I don't agree with this whole tram line moving when batsmen shuffle concept. The wide line is with respect to stump. If batsmen shuffle, bowler can still bowl them out...so the wide line should not move..."
Sumith: "Stoinis will get rightly fined but that was an absolute shocker from the umpire. Cant they change the decision looking at the replay? "
SACHU: "That must be the widest ball that umpire didn't signal wide"
John: "Safe to say that the Umps wont be on Stoinis' christmas list. Also good to know that the stump mic works!"
Kevin Pietersen echoes Shastri, saying the batter will find it "hard to continue delivering now as his brain is completely fried"
Within the space of three games, the Australia quick has become an irreplaceable piece in the RCB jigsaw
Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed also played crucial roles in an 18-run victory
Fantasy suggestions for the match between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore
With Dinesh Karthik in red-hot form, LSG could look to target his legspin weakness and hold back Ravi Bishnoi