Not renowned for his ball-striking skills, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Mohammed Siraj struck two lusty blows off consecutive deliveries against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to delight the home crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday, April 2.
With the game virtually out of reach, the 30-year-old took a liking to leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi in the final two balls of the penultimate over of RCB's run-chase. Siraj hit the first maximum to an overpitched delivery over the wide long-off region and made it two in a row with a brilliant straight six onto the sightscreen.
The twin strikes meant RCB were still mathematically alive heading into the final over, requiring 30 off six balls with a lone wicket in hand.
Here are the videos of Siraj's stunning sixes off consecutive deliveries:
Unfortunately for RCB, Siraj's sixes were the rare joyous moments in the run-chase as they succumed to a third defeat in four outings.
Despite restricting LSG to a chasable 181/5, the RCB batters were stunned by young sensation Mayank Yadav in the middle overs to fall to 103/6 in the 15th over.
A few late blows from Mahipal Lomror lent some respectablity to the final score as RCB finished on 153, suffering a 28-run defeat.
"We need the strong characters in the dressing room to put their hand up" - Faf du Plessis
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis was disappointed with the team's efforts in all departments and called on the strong characters to put their hand up in the upcoming games.
In a season highlighted by home dominance, RCB have suffered defeats in two of their three outings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
At the post-match presentation, du Plessis lamented RCB's performance in all three facets of the game.
"Two very good players, QdK when was on 25-30 and Nicky P was on 2, 60-65 extra runs, mistakes like that can cost you in the IPL. . I didn't think we were very good with our bowling especially in the powerplay, Maxwell brought it back and there were some pleasing signs in the death overs. You need two guys to bat through and get a partnership which we were not able to do. We need the strong characters in the dressing room to put their hand up," said Faf du Plessis.
With the defeat, RCB sunk to ninth on the points table with two points in four games.
They will take on the in-form Rajasthan Royals in their next encounter at Jaipur on Saturday, April 6.
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