Vijay Singh
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 16: Royal Challengers Bengaluru didn’t chase the top spot. They just took it back.
The five-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants at Chinnaswamy wasn’t dramatic. It was controlled. The type of game where one party holds the other tight and the other never recovers.
LSG finished at 146. Most of the story is reflected in that number.
It was an early finish to the Game.
RCB chose to bowl. It was a typical call. It didn’t stay standard for long.
Rasikh Salam led the way through. Not bursting, but a stage by stage. Wickets were thrown about the innings, not too many to have rendered LSG quite at home. The noise did not accompany his 4/24. It was a matter of time.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar pitched the middle overs as he normally does. No hurry, no variation with the waste of time. Just control. 3/27, and, more to the point, no release.
LSG had never developed momentum.
Mitchell Marsh and Ayush Badoni had starts. Both appeared to be looking at more. Nor took it on. The middle overs come to a halt and when that occurs at Chinnaswamy, 146 becomes lighter than it is.
It was a late drive, but it made no difference to the frame. The complete 20 overs were utilized by LSG. They just didn’t get enough out of them.
The Chase Did Not Waste.
It can be a mess when 147 is chased at Chinnaswamy and there are early wickets falling. It didn’t.
Virat Kohli didn’t force the innings. He held it. It isn’t a headline figure, but 49/34 did what it had to do. Cast the pursuit at a more gradual pace, eliminated all feeling of hurry.
The acceleration was done by Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma. Short bursts. Clean hitting. No interval where a game fell.
The target went down with 29 balls left. That margin indicates the way the chase was handled.
The spell that kept it all together.
Josh Hazlewood did not go on wicket binges. He didn’t need to.
Four overs. 20 runs. Proceed immediately. It was there that the game narrowed. LSG did not have a phase to reset. That control got him Player of the Match.
What Thereafter.
RCB move back to the top. Equal points as the rest close to them but an improved net run rate. The margin is very minor but at this stage this counts.
| Team | Matches | Wins | Losses | Points | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | +1.503 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | +0.889 |
| Punjab Kings | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | +0.720 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | +0.576 |
| Lucknow Super Giants | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -0.804 |
In the case of LSG, it is not a matter of a single game. It’s a pattern.
Starts without conversion. Overs without momentum. Just enough not to have lost the game, but not enough to have been able to handle the game.
In the case of RCB, it is easier.
They are not running after game. They’re setting them up.
And this just now is sufficient to hold them at the top.
