LSG vs RCB, IPL 2022 Eliminator: How Harshal and Hazlewood’s death-over heroics helped RCB overpower LSG – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

After consecutive Eliminator defeats in the last two seasons, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finally managed to cross the hurdle on Wednesday when they defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in a roller-coaster of a game in front of a packed Eden Gardens.

Lucknow invited Bangalore to bat on what proved to be a belter of a surface, but RCB were in for a scare early in their innings when the in-form Mohsin Khan removed skipper Faf du Plessis for a golden duck.

Virat Kohli too couldn’t quite get going on the big occasion, failing to reproduce the kind of authoritative innings that he managed against the Gujarat Titans with his 48-ball 73, getting bounced out by Avesh Khan after a patchy 25 off 24 deliveries.

Glenn Maxwell too endured a disappointing outing with the bat, getting dismissed for 9, while Mahipal Lomror was dismissed after getting off to a promising start. At one point, the prospect of restricting Bangalore to a score in the range of 160-170 or less seemed quite probable.

Harshal Patel was the most economical bowler for RCB against LSG in the Eliminator, collecting 1/25 from four. Sportzpics

But, Rajat Patidar, a mid-season replacement for Luvnith Sisodia, produced the innings of a lifetime with an unbeaten 112 off 54 deliveries — RCB’s first-ever century in the playoffs — and was ably assisted in the slog overs by the reinvigorated Dinesh Karthik (37 not out) as Bangalore posted a commanding first innings score of 207/4.

However, as witnessed in Qualifier 1, a target of that scale could certainly be scaled down on the lively Eden track and LSG did have the depth in their batting order to pull off the job.

And despite losing Quinton de Kock early in the chase, Lucknow were very much on track to book their tickets for Ahmedabad as they reached 167/3 at the end of the 17th over, needing 41 more to win from the last three with a well-set KL Rahul and the explosive middle-order batter Marcus Stoinis at the centre.

While Rahul wasn’t as aggressive as the team management and Lucknow fans would’ve hoped, Stoinis’ presence would’ve been a reassurance for Gautam Gambhir and the rest of the LSG dugout given the way he had been striking the ball this season. And if Stoinis didn’t last, Evin Lewis and Krunal Pandya could certainly have pulled it off after him.

Patidar was the rightful choice for the Player of the Match award and his ton was certainly the standout performance that evening, but had it not been for Harshal Patel and Josh Hazlewood’s brilliance in the last three overs of the LSG chase, the knock could have gone in vain and RCB’s vast legion of fans would’ve been left heartbroken yet again.

Shaky starts, followed by brilliant recoveries

Both Patel and Hazlewood got off to awry starts in the 18th and 19th overs respectively. Patel began from round the wicket to Stoinis and started off with a wide far outside off, following it up with a delivery that was even further away from the off-stump, so much so that it went away for five wides.

One could feel the momentum shift in those two deliveries from Patel, and bowlers often find it difficult to recover from such starts during crunch situations, and often cave in to the pressure subsequent.

Not Patel though. He switched back to over the wicket and managed to put the pressure back on Stoinis with back-to-back dots, bowling a short one to the Aussie all-rounder followed by an off-cutter that was within the tramline outside off. Stoinis went for a wild hoick on the following delivery and found the fielder at deep extra cover after a mishit. Patel closed the over out with two singles on the last three deliveries. Advantage Bangalore.

Josh Hazlewood of Royal Challengers Bangalore celebrates the wicket of KL Rahul of Lucknow Super Giants during the IPL 2022 match at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday. Sportzpics for IPL

Hazlewood, similarly, showed signs of pressure when bowling to Rahul and Lewis in the penultimate over, conceding as many as three wides in the first half of the over. Rahul, though, was starting to get a tad impatient as he hadn’t quite been hitting the ball out of the park as his team would’ve liked, and went for an ill-fated scoop towards short fine, where Shahbaz Ahmed waited with open arms.

The Aussie seamer, a vastly-improved T20 bowler since joining CSK two years ago, would then fox Krunal with a slow full toss that resulted in a simple enough return catch. Kohli was leaping around in joy as the Eden crowd — heavily favouring the Royal Challengers on the day — erupted with joy.

A tidy finish

Hazlewood conceded a boundary off to Dushmantha Chameera in the final ball of the 19th over, leaving LSG needing 24 off 6, and though RCB were the firm favourites to end the game on the winning side, there was still the task of bowling to Lewis, the West Indian more than capable of tonking a few out of the park.

A superb diving effort by Wanindu Hasaranga at cover saved three potential runs for the Royal Challengers. A wide on the following delivery and a maximum two balls later as Chameera smashed the ball into the stands beyond cow corner did keep Lucknow hanging by a thread.  

Patel however, followed it up with a low full toss that Chameera could collect only a single off, and immediately raised his arms in celebration. A dot off each of the last two deliveries followed, sealing a memorable victory for the Royal Challengers who, only a couple of days ago, needed Mumbai Indians to secure their passage into the playoffs with a victory over the Delhi Capitals.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, IPl Live Score Update Latest IPL Schedule 2022 , and , IPl 2022 Points tableEntertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.