IPL 2023: Stoinis, Pooran played well through the middle overs, says RCB skipper Faf after crushing one-wicket loss to LSG

Powerful half-centuries by Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni's quickfire 30 took Lucknow Super Giants to a one-wicket win in a last-ball thriller against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday.

"Disappointed. They (Pooran and Stoinis) played well through the middle. One ball, one run. We backed ourselves to get a run-out. Just looking at the wicket, from 7-14 it was quite slower. In the last five overs, it started skidding on. Really good for some good cricketing shots. Stoinis and Pooran played everything off the middle. They took on one of our main bowlers (Harshal) in his first couple of overs. It is a difficult place to bowl at death. You have to be on top of your game. I was struggling for the most part of my innings. Was happy to give the strike back to Kohli (Virat Kohli), sometimes you have to scratch. When I started hitting a few of the middle I got my flow back," said Faf during the post-match presentation.

Put in to bat first by LSG, RCB posted a massive 212/2 in their 20 overs. Virat Kohli (61 off 45 balls, 4 boundaries and four sixes) got the hosts off to a rollicking start in the powerplay and was involved in a 96-run stand off 69 balls with skipper Faf Du Plessis.

From then on, the skipper, who struggled initially, moved through the gears in the latter overs and was raised a 115-run stand with Glenn Maxwell off just 50 balls. Faf scored an unbeaten 79 off 46 balls, studded five fours and five sixes.

Maxwell, too, was in his element on the night and entertained the home crowd with a swashbuckling 59 off 29 balls, consisting of three fours and six sixes. Dinesh Karthik was unbeaten on 1 at the close of the innings.

Mark Wood (1/32) and Amit Mishra (1/18) were among the wickets for LSG.

Chasing 213, LSG were reduced to 23/3 in four overs.

However, KL Rahul (18) and Marcus Stoinis raised a game-changing 76-run stand for the fourth wicket. Stoinis scored a quickfire 65 off 30 balls, studded with six fours and five sixes.

Nicholas Pooran upped the attack following KL and Stoinis's dismissal, scoring 62 off just 19 balls with four boundaries and seven sixes. He raised a quick 84-run stand with Ayush Badoni, who scored 30 off 24 balls.

The equation came down to five runs in the final over bowled by Harshal Patel, who conceded a single off the first ball and picked up a wicket off the second. A double and single were scored off balls three and four. Unadkat was dismissed off the penultimate ball, bringing down the equation to 1 run off 1 ball.

Harshal attempted to run Ravi Bishnoi out at the non-strikers' end but failed. The LSG pair ran a bye off the last ball, sealing a pulsating one-wicket win.

Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the bowlers for RCB, taking 3/22 in four overs. Wayne Parnell also took 3/41 on his IPL return. Harshal also returned 2 scalps but gave away 48 runs in four overs. Karn Sharma took 1/48 in three overs.

With this win, LSG is the table-topper with three wins and a loss in four games. They have a total of six points. RCB is in the seventh position with one win and two losses in three games, with a total of 2 points in their kitty.

Pooran won the 'Player of the Match' for his game-changing knock.

Brief score: Royal Challengers Bangalore 212/2 (Faf du Plessis 79*, Virat Kohli 61; Amit Mishra 1-18) vs Lucknow Super Giants 213/9 (Marcus Stoinis 65, Nicholas Pooran 62; Mohammed Siraj 3-22). (ANI)