Faf du Plessis hit 79* off 46 balls and Wayne Parnell took 3-41 in a narrow defeat for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Lucknow Super Giants in the 15th match of the IPL
The two experienced South Africans failed to help their side claim victory despite brilliant performances from both.
Du Plessis, was key to taking his side to 212/2 with his 79 not out off 46 balls, hitting 5 fours and 5 sixes, which included an incredible 115m monster maximum which is the longest six of TATA IPL 2023.
This was Du Plessis’ second 70 of the tournament, having struck 73 in RCB’s victory over Mumbai Indians in the 5th Match of the IPL.
Parnell marked his first IPL game with a double strike in the 4th over, reducing the Super Giants to 23-3 after 4 overs.
LSG were on 154/5 in the 15th over with a Run Rate of 11.00, needing 59 runs from 36 balls, when Parnell bowled his 2nd.
He was punished by Pooran going for 17 runs, two fours and a six, the opposition now needing 42 runs from 30 balls.
Parnell bowled again in the penultimate over, as the game went to the wire, LSG needing 15 runs from 12 balls. He bowled two wides to start, went for four and conceded a total of 10 runs, handing the opposition team the advantage. He did however take the wicket of Badoni, who was on 30 off 24 balls.
RCB needed to defend 5 off the last over, and despite a wicket falling, they last on the last ball with a leg bye.
Du Plessis said at the post-match interview: ” [I’m] Disappointed. I mean obviously, they played really well through the middle there but I thought we fought back beautifully. But then that last ball, I fancied our chances with a run-out.
“I think just looking at that wicket, the batting from overs 7 to 14 was quite slow, the wicket, but then in the last five overs the ball was coming on nicely and that carried on in the second innings. I threw all of the weapons we had at them.
“Unfortunately, they took on one of our stronger bowlers right away, Harshal in his first two overs, but he came back well. It’s a difficult place to bowl at the death, you have to be at your best. I was actually struggling for most of my innings.
“I was just happy to give the strike to Virat who was striking it really well in the first six overs. You get those innings where sometimes you have to scratch through and once I started hitting a few I got my flow.”
Photo: IPL
