Match 31 of IPL saw RCB script an amazing turnaround after being reduced to 7-2 in the first over, including Virat Kohli bagging a golden duck. Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis then forged a good comeback, with the RCB skipper falling for an excellent 96 in the last over of the inning. Josh Hazlewood ran through the LSG batting lineup, picking up 4/25. A team effort from RCB restricted LSG to 163 while chasing 182. Let’s look at some of the key points from the game.
KL Rahul’s captaincy
KL Rahul is often criticised for his unimaginative captaincy, but he was outstanding against RCB. Despite losing two wickets in the first over, Maxwell counterattacked and took RCB to a good total. Rahul was quick to bring Krunal Pandya into the attack to counter Maxwell.
Although Pandya had dismissed Maxwell only once before in IPL, he had conceded runs at a strike rate of just 120, with a dot ball percentage of 40%. The other thing that was impressive was the placement of Jason Holder in the short third-man position.
Maxwell loves to reverse sweep, and with Pandya’s angle taking the ball away from him, the reverse sweep would have been his release shot. When Maxwell played it, he found the tallest man on the ground leaping and taking a smart catch. It was an excellent piece of game awareness from Rahul the captain.
LSG’s death overs bowling
Knowing that Dinesh Karthik struggles against the spinners, especially at the start of his innings, Rahul held back Bishnoi and introduced him soon after Karthik came to the crease. Although Karthik didn’t face a ball off Bishnoi as du Plessis shielded him, it was a good tactical move from the LSG skipper.
In the 19th over, Avesh Khan was bowling to an in-form Karthik and had a shorter boundary on the leg side. Khan bowled extremely well and kept his line wide of the off-stump to deny the batters any scoring opportunities on the leg side.
In the 20th over, when Holder was bowling with a longer boundary on the leg side, he kept bowling into the pitch and used his cutters and variations. His line, length and pace meant that batters had to generate all the power and time the ball well to clear the long boundary, which they failed to do. It was an excellent show of game awareness and display of skills from the LSG bowlers in the final two overs of the first innings.
Hazlewood’s Test-like bowling
In a high-scoring T20 game, Josh Hazlewood reaped rewards by sticking to the strengths that have made him such a successful bowler in Test matches. The pitch, which had a good amount of grass covering and offered good bounce, was tailor-made for someone Hazlewood and his style of bowling.
Hazlewood’s line and length against Quinton de Kock were exceptional. After the first ball was pitched slightly short on the middle stump, he bowled the next ball a bit fuller and on the middle and off stump.
Around 66.67% of Hazlewood’s balls were on the good length or just short of good length. he kept varying his line but he mostly kept it closer to the batters’ body, not providing any width to hit on either side of the wickets.
It was an all-round display from RCB, with players stepping up in all three departments. With this win, RCB have now moved to second place in the points table.