Match Center

That is it from this game then! The Indian T20 League continues on the second of this month. It is Gujarat taking on Delhi. That game begins at 7.30 pm IST (1400 GMT). The build-up though begins a lot earlier. Do join us. Till then, take care and goodbye!

Faf du Plessis, MAN OF THE MATCH, says the wicket here and the wicket back home are the complete opposite. Reckons they played well in the Powerplay and that is what was the difference. Also adds, batting first was better, spinners were difficult to face and it is pretty hard to score if the bowlers hit the right lines and lengths. Mentions, he feels 135 would have been a good score as the nature of the wicket was very tough. Also says they needed early wickets in the Powerplay and got it. Credits the way Josh Hazlewood and Karn Sharma bowled and says he is super happy for the latter as he has been brilliant whenever picked.

... PRESENTATION TIME ...

Krunal Pandya, the stand-in captain of Lucknow, is up for a chat. He says the bowling was really good from their side but the batters were not upto the mark yet again. Informs he does not know how bad Rahul's injury was but they are keeping a close watch.

For Lucknow, it was yet another poor performance with the bat. Just one batter managed to cross the 20-run mark and that was Krishnappa Gowtham. When you lose by 18 runs chasing just 126 that indicates how poor one side was with the bat. Their bowlers did brilliantly in the first half to restrict a powerful batting line-up to a low score but their batters were equally poor and in the end, it is yet another loss for them at their home ground.

That is some bowling performance from Bangalore. 126 was not such a big total, despite the wicket being extremely slow and Lucknow not having Rahul but the Bangalore bowlers were exceptional. Also, credit to Faf du Plessis who was excellent with his captaincy as well. It was Siraj who started things off with a wicket in the first over and Josh Hazlewood did his job from the other end. Faf's change of bowlers also worked brilliantly as whoever he got on, managed to deliver. When you defend 126, you need all your bowlers to do a good job and that was exactly the case for Bangalore. Except for Mahipal Lomror, all the bowlers got a wicket at least.

OUT! TAKEN! Harshal Patel gets the last wicket. A slower one around off, Amit Mishra looks to go downtown. He is through the shot, way, way too early. Ends up hitting it high up in the air behind the wicket. That shows how early he was into the shot. Dinesh Karthik makes no mistake. Bangalore win by 18 runs!

Shorter and outside off, Amit Mishra slaps it over cover but no run taken. Two legal deliveries and Bangalore win it.

FOUR! Boundaries won't be enough. They need to clear the fence! A full toss on middle, Amit Mishra moves across and plays the ramp shot over the short fine leg fielder and into the fence behind.

A slower one, this is slapped down to long off. KL Rahul thinks of taking one but then decides not to.

No run taken again! 23 needed in 5. Shorter and outside off, Amit Mishra swings but it goes off the inner half towards short fine leg.

Outside off, this is slapped but to cover. A single not taken. 23 needed in the last over.

Well wide outside off, left alone. Wide signaled at first but then wided.

Shorter and on middle, this is pulled but to deep mid-wicket.

Out comes KL Rahul! The actual skipper. The game looks gone but can he do something special? 24 needed in 8. 4 biggies is all that is needed and we are pretty sure he would just look to stand and whack it.

OUT! TAKEN! A boundary and out for Naveen-ul-Haq! Shorter and outside off, Naveen-ul-Haq slashes at it but it goes off the outside edge and it is taken by the keeper.

FOUR! Not where he intended but he does not care! Naveen-ul-Haq looks to play the reverse scoop, this goes off the inner half and past short fine leg for a boundary.