Lucknow: Sparkling half centuries by Jitesh Sharma and Virat Kohli helped favourites Royal Challengers Bengaluru finish second in the IPL points table, notching up a thrilling six-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants here on Tuesday. RCB finished second in the table and will play toppers Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur on Thursday.
Already in the playoffs, RCB desperately needed this win and Jitesh and Kohli with Mayank Agarwal made it happen, chasing down the 228-run target with eight balls to spare. It dashed LSG’s hopes of a consolation win, raised on Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 118 that took them to 227/3. RCB became the first team to go through an IPL group stage without losing a designated away game.
Stand-in skipper Jitesh and Agarwal added 107 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket as RCB reached 230/4 in 18.4 overs. Jitesh hammered 85 in 33 balls (4×8, 6×6). Agarwal hit a 23-ball 41 (5×4).
The win wasn’t without a mini drama in the 17th over when Digvijay Rathi removed the stumps on his bowling stride with Jitesh (on 57) out of his crease. He appealed for run out and it went to the third umpire, who ruled him not out. Pant too withdrew the appeal.
Kohli, who completed his 9000 T20 runs for a single franchise, and Phil Salt (30 – 19b, 6×4) set the tone for the chase, raising 61 runs in 34 balls. Though RCB suffered a double blow with Will O’Rourke removing Rajat Patidar (14) and Liam Livingstone (0) off consecutive deliveries, Kohli held firm, scoring a 30-ball 54 (10×4).
His dismissal in the 12th over reduced the innings to 123/4, but Jitesh and Agarwal hammered the bowling.
Pant finally found form with an unbeaten century. He smacked 118 (61b, 11×4, 8×6), adding 152 runs for the opening wicket with Mitch Marsh (67 – 37b, 4×4, 5×6) as LSG posted 227/3 after being asked to bat.
Pant hit his second IPL century, which would boost his confidence ahead of the England Test tour. He hit Bhuvneshwar Kumar over extra cover for four to complete the hundred before removing his helmet and gloves and doing a celebratory cartwheel.
Pant started off well, hammering Yash Dayal for 18 runs in his first over, and this included a huge six on the second ball, and two boundaries, on the fourth and sixth deliveries. He along with Marsh made RCB bowlers’ lives difficult as Yash Dayal (3-0-44-0), Romario Shepherd (4-0-51-1), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-46-1) and young leg spinner Suyash Sharma (3-0-39-0) looked clueless against these two.
This wasn’t a good start for LSG as they lost opener Mathew Breetzke (14), who while playing his first IPL match this season, scored a boundary and a six before being bowled by Nuwan Thushara, who too was playing his first game of the season and impressed with his bowling at least in the beginning when he almost had Marsh’s wicket with a swinging yorker.
Breetzke’s quick departure didn’t make any dent to Marsh and Pant’s intentions as the two didn’t let RCB bowlers make any further impact and went on hammering almost all the bowlers with sheer power. The two stitched together 152 runs for the opening wicket before Pant added another important 49-run for the third wicket with Nicholas Pooran (13).
Marsh, who crossed 600 runs for his finest IPL season in a decade, scored sixth fifty of this IPL in 31 balls with a huge six off Suyash. He started a bit slow, scoring just 19 in the first 16 deliveries, but soon he pressed the top gear, beginning with a six off Romario Shepherd. However, he couldn’t go further as he snicked Bhuvneshwar to stumper Jitesh Sharma.