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IPL 2023: Lucknow pays the price for playing too many dot balls against RCB

Royal Challengers Bangalore successfully defended a small total of 126 to defeat Lucknow Super Giants

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Lucknow Super Giants batter Deepak Hooda is stumped by Royal Challengers Bangalore wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. — PTI

by Leslie Wilson Jr

Published: Mon 1 May 2023, 11:30 PM

Dot balls were the overriding factor as Royal Challengers Bangalore successfully defended a small total of 126 to defeat Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs in a low-scoring match that nonetheless provided a nail-biting finish on Monday.

RCB will doubtless take a lot of positives out of the game, especially after the defeat in the previous game against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

LSG will be wanting to immediately draw a line through the match and hope that it can avenge the defeat it suffered earlier in the IPL against Chennai Super Kings.

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Skipper KL Rahul, who suffered a nasty leg injury while fielding and only came in to bat at number ten, said that the team was unable to execute their plans which made the difference between winning and losing.

Here are five talking points of the 43rd Match of a tournament that has captured world attention.

Batting first the key

RCB skipper Faf du Plessis attributed the victory to having first use of the wicket which helped them to assess the conditions well and put in place a revised game plan.

The batting strip saw less than 250 runs scored in total as spin bowlers dominated most of the action, with the exception being returning pace bowler Josh Hazlewood who captured two wickets for just 15 runs in his three overs.

Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Karn Sharma who bowled the middle overs were able to take control of the match for RCB with a disciplined and orthodox approach that spinners are known to use in conditions that suit.

Dot balls

LSG, who was hoping to continue from where it left off against Punjab Kings on Sunday where it posted a massive total of 257 for five during its 56-run victory, was unable to find any rhythm.

As many as 66 dot balls. equivalent to 11 scoreless overs, was the root of the problem of a team who possesses the depth in batting that likes to dominate the ball.

In trouble from the go

A target of 126 would have been a pushover on most tracks but not at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. With a 200-plus target being reached 23 times in the IPL a low-scoring contest was in stark contrast to the trend. Before they knew it Lucknow was against the ropes having lost four batters for just 27 runs in the power play.

The partnership that looked like it could take the home team closer to victory was forged by Marcus Stoinis (13 from 19) and Krishnappa Gowtham (29 from 13) but it was not to be. Once the Aussie was dismissed in the 11th over, the writing was on the wall.

Good toss to win

After coming off an enormous innings of 257 for five in its last match against Punjab Kings at Mohali, Lucknow Super Kings would have liked to have had first use of a wicket that turned out to be a graveyard for batters.

However, K L Rahul lost the toss for the first time in a home game which in the long run had a big impact on the way the match played out.

The batting strip at the stadium was a nightmare. Even world-class batters like Virat Kohli (31 from 30) and Faf du Plessis (44 from 40) struggled to put the ball away. The whole innings yielded only two sixes and six boundaries.

Rock steady

In hindsight a total of 126 for nine seemed good enough to defend. Kohli and Du Plessis might have been playing Test match cricket for all we knew with their cautious approach but the tactics of building the innings with singles and two on a wicket that took no enemies was the right thing to do.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Krunal Pandya opened the bowling and while he went wicketless in his four overs, he laid down a template for the other spinners to use and which they did to good effect to tie up the RCB batters.

Brief Scores

RCB beats LSG by 18 runs.

RCB 126/9 (Faf Du Plessis 44, Virat Kohli 31; Naveen ul Haq 3/30, Ravi Bishnoi 2/21)

LSG 108 all out (Krishnappa Gowtham 23, Amit Mishra 19, Josh Hazlewood 2/15, Karn Sharma)

Man-of-the-match: Faf Du Plessis

Leslie Wilson Jr

Published: Mon 1 May 2023, 11:30 PM

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