RCB vs LSG IPL 2023 Highlights: Lucknow clinch thriller by 1 wicket

What! What did we witness. Can a cricket match be this close and swinging continuously? LSG win by the barest of the margins. A win by 1 wicket on the final ball with no proper batter. RCB go down in a heart-stopper. I told you, this game was not for faint-hearted. Everything happening. Sixes being hit, wickets tumbling, hit wicket also happened in the final over, a non-striker run out and what not. But LSG have found the way to win. What a contest. It was pleasure brining this to you. Thanks for joining.

Scores are level and 2 balls left. Unadkat to face. Unadkat caught out. What is happening here. This game is certainly not for faint hearted ones. A proper pendulum. 1 needed off 1. Last wicket left

Badoni has got out in an unfamiliar fashion. He hit a six but has got out hit-wicket. Poor result. Six denied. Harshal now gets Wood bowled.

14 runs are needed off 12 balls and Parnell is bowling this penultimate over. Two wides to begin with. Ohh Badoni has hit a four now

Siraj has got the all important wicket of the dangerous Pooran. This was a full-toss on pads, asked to be hit, but Pooran finds a fielder at deep backward square. Is there some twist now?

It's time-out and 28 are needed off 24 balls now. This looks to get over soon.

Pooran has hit the fastest fifty of IPL 2023. A 15-ball fifty for Pooran. He is going or the kill mode. This is some power-hitting. LSG are now in the driver's seat to chase this one.

Pooran is going berserkhere. He has hit 40 off just 12 balls. The requried rate has come down under 10. 59 needed in 36 balls. They can certainly do this

And now Rahul falls. Siraj has got LSG skipper caught out and sends them in big trouble. Siraj pitched this on Rahul's pads as the batter looked to flick. He got no timing and Kohli at deep square takes the catch. Siraj has now got both LSG openers.

Karn Sharma has got the big wicket of Stoinis. This is a big one.

Marcus Stoinis is putting his hand up and is keeping his team in hunt. 122 needed off 60 balls.

Stoinis and Rahul are leading LSG's charge well. They are going about 8 an over and keeping their team in hunt. Stoinis is going all guns blazing and has hit a 25-ball fifty. Can he carry on?

Another wicket and Hooda walks back now. This is some damage to LSG's chances of a win. Parnell gets his first. Rahul holds the key now. Make it three down please. Parnell is producing a brilliant over on his IPL return as Krunal goes back.

Siraj has struck early in the innings as LSG lose Mayers in the first over. Rahul is joined by Hooda. LSG need fireworks and partnerships.

RCB have scored a mountain of runs. They have got 212 runs in 20 overs. What a show that was in Bengaluru. All top three players scored more than fifty. Kohli was brilliant, so were Faf and Maxwell. Well set up by Kohli and then these two took the game even higher. It would be some task to chase this. Back in a moment.

Oh my word, how well these two are going. They are going all guns blazing.

Virat Kohli goes back as Amit Mishra gives LSG their first breakthrough in his forst over itself. This was short, Kohli tried to pull but could not clear deep mid-wicket as Stoinis takes a safe catch. Maxwell comes in.

We are at the half-way mark in the first innings and RCB are dominating at the moment. They are keeping the good work going as Kohli has crossed the fifty while du Plessis is supporting Kohli. Three overs after the powerplay were economical but the 10th over has gone for 13.

And Kohli has hit another fifty. How brilliantly he is batting tonight. Fifty in 35 balls. Well-paced innings, took the attack to the bowlers in the start and then cooled a bit. This is his second fifty by the RCB star. 

Virat is smoking fire Chinnaswamy. He has already hit 42 in 25 overs as RCB are off to a flier. This is some serious start. He is closing in on a fifty. RCB are at 56/0 after the first 6 overs. Ravi Bishnoi comes in now after the powerplay

RCB have made a good start here in Bengaluru. Kohli is timing the ball well and du Plessis is playing the supportive role. RCB are at 42/0 in 5 overs as they are hitting the LSG bowlers.

And the action is underway in Bengaluru. The two RCB openers- Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli are in the middle. Jaydev Unadkat starts for LSG. Here we go.

KL Rahul(c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran(w), Jaydev Unadkat, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi

Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Anuj Rawat, David Willey, Wayne Parnell, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj

We will be bowling, Going by the history of the ground. Quite simple and straightforward. It is still home for me. I have grown up here and played all my cricket. We got close against CSK as we tried to chase down 220. The crowd will be getting loud and getting behind their side. Few changes- Wood comes back in, Yash is out.

LSG are bolwing first as Rahul wins the toss. Big news coming, Mark Wood is back for the team. Wayne Parnell is playing fo RCB after replacing the injured Topley.

LSG have won 2 out of 3 games. They were very good against DC but lost by a small margin against CSK. LSH then belted their second win against SRH. There batting is going well, especially with Mayers, Pooran and Badoni firing. Wood and Avesh's health can trouble them as they missed the previous game.

RCB have been all or nothing in the tournament so far. They were formidable against Mumbai Indians and were outclassed by Kolkata Knight Riders easily. RCB's batting is well led by Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis but there is hardly anyone firing after them. Also, the death bowling has troubled them many-a-times, and will need to address that. 

RCB's squad:

Faf du Plessis (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Virat Kohli, Michael Bracewell, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Karn Sharma, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sonu Yadav, Siddarth Kaul, Wayne Parnell, Manoj Bhandage, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Himanshu Sharma

LSG's squad:

KL Rahul (c), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Amit Mishra, Yash Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Bishnoi, Ayush Badoni, Swapnil Singh, Avesh Khan, Prerak Mankad, Daniel Sams, Quinton de Kock, Mark Wood, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krishnappa Gowtham, Manan Vohra, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Karan Sharma, Mayank Yadav

Karnataka's KL Rahul is playing at his home at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium but not as a home player. He will be coming playing at the venue for the third time as an opposition player and would want to leave an impact. Meanwhile, RCB will have no soft feelings for him and will want to thump LSG today.

KL Rahul has a special love for RCB. He rose up the ranks while playing for Bangalore and has a brilliant record against RCB when he is in opposition. Rahul has scored 474 runs in last 7 innings against the Royal Challengers at an average of 118.5. His 76.3 average against them is his second-best against any team.

The pitch at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium is generally a batting paradise with runs flowing everywhere. The average first innings score at the venue since 2018 is 183 and sixes are hit for fun here. Meanwhile, the spinners found life a little easy than the pacers as they bowl at 8.1 compared to the pacers' economy of 9.8.

Faf du Plessis-led RCB are hosting KL Rahul's LSG in the 15th match of IPL 2023. RCB has had two extreme matches, one where they dominated Mumbai Indians, and the other where they were outclassed by Kolkata Knight Riders. Their batting is led by Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, while the others are yet to join the party. Their bowling group has not done that well in the death overs as they look to address the issue. For LSG, Rahul's team has power-packed batting with the likes of Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran, and Ayush Badoni striking well and the bowling is led well by Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi, and Krunal Pandya. While LSG have a strong line-up, they are yet to find Quinton de Kock's selection call. This shall be some contest. So sit back in your comfort as I Varun Malik, take you across this game.