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And that is that for tonight. RCB will fly out to Ahmedabad tomorrow (rather today, we're way past midnight already, jeez!) to play the Rajasthan Royals on Friday. The winner proceeds to take on the Gujarat Titans in the summit clash on Sunday. But of course, there's the big game between Velocity and Trailblazers at the MCA Stadium in Pune tonight as a spot in the final of the Women's T20 Challenge lies at stake. Do join us for our coverage of the same while keeping yourselves updated with all the other cricketing news and action from around the globe right here on Sportskeeda. Thank you so much for tuning in tonight - on behalf of my good friend and fellow commentator Pratyush Rohra, this is Sooryanarayanan Sesha once again reminding you to mask up and get vaccinated in case you haven't already! Good night and take care!
It was the innings of a lifetime! From not being picked up at the IPL 2022 Auction to coming in as a replacement player and then vaulting RCB into Qualifier 2 with a stunning display, this is a redemption story of some kind by Rajat Patidar. He's made the world sit up and watch in admiration as he pulverized the Super Giants all around the park. LSG's tournament has come to a close and they'll look back at what could have been - they had all the all-round talent at their disposal but a frequent game of musical chairs with their middle-order left a lot to be desired. A third-placed finish in your debut season as a franchise though, speaks volumes of how quickly they've taken to the league. Loads to look forward to from their end heading into the next season. As for RCB, they head to Ahmedabad to face the Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 on Friday.
Rajat Patidar (surprise, surprise!) is the Player of the Match for his astonishing unbeaten 112 off 54 deliveries.
Hear from the man himself: My focus was only on timing the ball well and not try to hit it too hard. (When did he feel that it was his day today?) The last of the Powerplay when I was facing Krunal Pandya - I executed my plan perfectly as to where I wanted to go. My focus was just on how to cash in on the opportunity I had. The wicket was very good for batting. I don't feel pressure in case of a dot ball since I know I have the ability to make up for it. (What has changed this year?) After the last season I wasn't picked up at the auction. That was not in my control though so I just focused on my game and things that were in my control.
Faf du Plessis: Today was a special day. The guys put in a real good performance. I'm over the moon with the way Rajat played. How good was that knock? Oh! In a match like today, you obviously encounter more pressure. So, for a guy like him to play the way he did and even the way he accelerated to his hundred, tells you there's a good head on that shoulders. He'll go a long way. To pull an inning that, it's one of the best ones I've seen in the IPL. A special player and a good day for us. We were really good on a wicket where it's tough to defend a total on a small ground. I thought our bowlers were clear and calm, which was really important. Amazing! He's (Patidar) has got all the shots, hasn't he? Just the innings and the way he attacks. Every single time we feel we are under a bit of pressure, he just comes in and flicks the switch and turns the momentum back to us. The ability to absorb pressure and then transfer it back to the bowler. Not a lot of players can do that. Special innings and we are going to celebrate it with him tonight. It's a great occasion. I know we've got something to look forward to in two days but it's really important that we use the occasion and celebrate the hard work we have done today and rest up tomorrow. We were high on emotion and happy as a group after that game (MI vs DC). Everyone was together and it was really important as a team to calm down a bit and make sure that we have a calm presence and clarity for the match, which was really good to see today. There wasn't a lot of hype about the game. It didn't feel like a big game for us in terms of guys talking about nervous faces. Everyone looked nice and relaxed, which is an important attribute. He's (Harshal) is the joker in the pack of cards, isn't he? It's the time that he bowls. He's a high pressure bowler. Every single time I feel the pressure is the most, I go to him. He's even asked for it. In one of my first conversations, he said he wants the important overs. That confidence speaks for itself. Today, to bowl the important overs and especially the second last one to change the game singlehandedly was awesome.
Harshal Patel: The hand is fine. It's healed superficially but inside there's still a bit of an issue. Every time I try to stretch my thumb, it can be a bit sore. But as long as I can bowl my 24 balls, I'm happy. There were a lot of thoughts in my mind before the season because we were going to play in Mumbai, which is supposedly a batting-friendly wicket. I thought about how I'll adapt my bowling style to the conditions and decided that I'm going to focus more on bowling hard length deliveries and then mix it up with the slower balls. That's worked out really well for me. I was looking at the stats recently and my hard length balls have gone for 7.5 runs per over. So, those things that I wanted to try have worked out really well. (On his third over). I had a plan, wanting to bowl wide to Stoin but it just didn't come off tonight. I did it well against Livingstone when he played Punjab but it didn't happen today. So, I made the adjustment and went back to whatever worked for me in the first couple of overs. It feels exceptional. I can't describe the emotions we went through in the MI vs DC game and when we qualified, we knew we are a dangerous side now. So, we just wanted to come out and play the best cricket we can to try and win the trophy.
KL Rahul: It's quite obvious, the reasons why we didn't win the game. We let ourselves down in the field, dropping easy catches never helps. The difference between the two teams was Patidar's knock. When someone in the top three goes on to score a hundred, the team ends up winning. They fielded really well in this game and we were very poor. We'll take back a lot of positives. It's a new franchise and it's the first time we've all come together as a group. Yes, we've made a lot of mistakes. Every team does that but we've got to try to learn from it and come back stronger. We have a really young team. A lot of the boys are under the age group of 25, who have done really well in patches. They'll learn from their mistakes and go back home, to try and be better players, work on their skill and come back stronger next year. (On Mohsin Khan) He showed everybody how good he is and the skill he possesses. He's been brilliant for us. It's the first season, so it's important for him to take a lot from this and keep getting better. As he grows with confidence, he will be able to clock speeds that are much higher and also develop a few more skills by next year hopefully. He's got a great future ahead of him.
Too late in the end for the Lucknow Super Giants and that's their tournament. They made a splash in their debut season but it's come to an abrupt halt. Full marks to the Royal Challengers Bangalore though - that was a professional display on the field and despite the odd nervous moment, they hung in there to book themselves a flight to Ahmedabad to face the Rajasthan Royals.
Losing Quinton de Kock in the opening over is the worst way to get a 208-run chase underway. That's what the Super Giants had to endure, however, with Mohammed Siraj having a spring in his step. Harshal Patel hurt his webbing yet again while fielding and that sent a few nerves jangling among the RCB faithful. He was back later on, mind you, but that's where skipper Faf du Plessis had to maneuver his bowlers around.
Shahbaz Ahmed did the needful to that end and sent down four overs of gold dust. Manan Vohra teed off but his stay was cut short by Josh Hazlewood. That brought Deepak Hooda out to the middle and even as KL Rahul ensured the Powerplay was a fruitful one for LSG, the duo just failed to get going in the middle-overs.
119 were needed off the last 10 overs and with the ball holding in the surface, it was turning into a painstaking stay for Rahul in particular. Hooda managed to break the shackles and it was all feast or famine for a while. A flurry of sixes were scored on either side of Hooda's wicket as Hasaranga was taken down.
All of a sudden, the pressure seemed to transfer back onto RCB. Rahul manufactured a couple of clever shots but he just couldn't sustain it for long enough. A counter-argument can be made that he left himself far too much to get and that's a pretty valid statement to make as well. Harshal Patel nearly lost his way with a couple of wides - one of them went as far as the fence as well!
That said, both him and Hazlewood held their own in the death overs and produced yet another death-bowling masterclass to vault the Royal Challengers past the finish line. It's worth asking the question on everyone's mind at this stage - what were the Super Giants thinking, holding Evin Lewis back as far as they did?
Indeed, it's time for Battle Royale come Friday! RCB have held their nerve after piling up a humongous total. Just far too much to do for Lewis against the mastery of Harshal and Hazlewood. Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Lucknow Super Giants by 14 runs and progress to Qualifier 2!
20
overs
193/6score
1
1w
0
6
1
0
0
runs
Evin Lewis*
2(6)
Dushmantha Chameera
11(4)
Harshal Patel
1/25
19.6 Harshal Patel to Evin Lewis, RCB ARE GOING THROUGH TO THE QUALIFIER 2! That sets up a battle of the Royals on Friday. Full and wide with pace off again, Lewis plays and misses again as Harshal Patel closes out a sensational win for Bangalore. Let the party begin! Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 14 runs.
19.5 Harshal Patel to Evin Lewis, ANOTHER DOT! He might not have the purple cap this season but Purple Patel is a force to reckon with. In the slot off-cutter angling across Lewis, who can't connect with that one.
Back over the wicket goes Harshal.
Kohli is pumped. They're in. The Royal Challengers are in. Just two legal deliveries and it's done.
19.4 Harshal Patel to Dushmantha Chameera, that should close it out for RCB! Low full toss angled across the off-stump, Chameera bunts it down to long on for a single
16 needed off 3! Around the wicket comes Harshal. And what do we have here? Has someone invaded the field of play? Anyways, we carry on...
19.3 Harshal Patel to Dushmantha Chameera, SIX! SWEET AS A NUT! Another short one from Harshal but it's pace on this time. Sitting up nicely for Chameera to allow him to clobber this over long-on and deposit it into the stands. Need more of those in the final three balls.
19.2 Harshal Patel to Dushmantha Chameera, DOT BALL! Runout check here. It's a dot either way though. Another one of the Harshal special, please. Slower bouncer served up outside the off-stump, Chameera can get nowhere near that one, beaten all ends up! There's a run out check as as well, with Chameera looking to get Lewis on strike, only to turn back as DK hares towards the stumps and dislodges them.
All fine though on the replay so Chameera will stay on!
19.2 Harshal Patel to Dushmantha Chameera, wide. Slower bouncer is not on the radar and outside the tramline. Will have to reload.
How many runs has he saved tonight? Simply outstanding! And Lewis is off strike as well.
19.1 Harshal Patel to Evin Lewis, Wanindu's been a livewire on the field! And crucially, Lewis is off strike. Yorke outside the off-stump, Lewis stays deep in his crease to crunch a drive to extra cover but Hasaranga's there again to save three runs for his side.