Bengaluru, April 2: Opener Quinton de Kock hammered a 56-ball 81 but Royal Challengers Bengaluru pulled things back in the death overs to restrict Lucknow Super Giants to in Match 15 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Tuesday. De Kock went berserk at the start of the innings, raising 53 runs for the opening wicket with skipper K.L Rahul (20) and 56 for the third wicket with Marcus Stoinis (24) after RCB skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to field first.

However, RCB pulled things back a bit, sending down some miserly overs towards the end of the innings before Nicholas Pooran hammered five sixes in the last two overs for 40 not out off 21 deliveries to help them to a defendable total. Glenn Maxwell was the best of the rCB bowlers with 2-23 off his four overs.

RCB now need to chase 182 in home conditions to win their second win at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium.

LSG were off to a good start, with Quinton de Kock and K.L Rahul raising 53 runs for the opening wicket partnership. De Kock started in a whirlwind fashion hitting 32 runs in the fifty-run partnership. The South African wicketkeeper-batter hammered three boundaries off Reece Topley, who came in for fellow English pacer Alzarri Joseph, starting with a top-edge off the third delivery of the opening over and following that up with a loft over cover-point on a fullish delivery and a punch to deep backward point fence off the next delivery.

A drive to deep-point boundary off Yash Dayal in the second over by the left-handed opener was followed by back-to-back sixes off Mohammed Siraj -- a superb pick-up off his pads into the first tier followed by a blast over deep backward square leg on the next.

In between, K.L Rahul hammered Yash Dayal for a huge six, a beautiful shot off a fullish delivery around the fifth stump that the Karnataka batter blasted over the bowler's over. He struck Glenn Maxwell for another six, even though Rajat Patidar got a hand to it. Rahul fell off the next ball, ballooning a catch to Mayank Dagar, getting the outside half of his bat to be out for 20.

Quinton de Kock, who got a life when Maxwell put down a difficult chance while back-pedaling, found an able partner in Marcus Stoinis as they both raised 56 runs for the third-wicket partnership.

De Kock completed his half-century off 36 balls, hitting five boundaries and three maximums. LSG reached 100 off in the 12th over and they reached fifty off their partnership soon off 26 balls. De Kock and Stoinis hammered Cameron Green for 19 runs in the 13th over, with de Kock hammering the Aussie allrounder for a six and four while Stoinis swung him over deep square leg for a six off a full toss. Stoinis fell to Glenn Maxwell, caught by Dagar as he tried to maintain the momentum, getting out for 23 off 15 balls studded with one four and two sixes.

RCB applied the brakes with Yash Dayal bowling a two-run 15th over, de Kock blasted Siraj for two boundaries in the next over to pull things back for LSG as they reached 141/3 in 16 overs.

With four overs to go and LSG looking to break free hoping to reach 200, Nicholas Pooran was dropped by keeper Anuj Rawat off Reece Topley but de Kock was not so lucky as he fell off the next ball, trying to hit a big one off a low and slow full-toss and Mayank Dagar pouched a well-judged catch at long-off to see the back of the South African for 81 off 56 balls, studded with eight boundaries and five maximums.

It was another good over as Topley conceded only two runs while taking the key wicket of de Kock as LSG could score only 19 runs off 28 balls at the end of the 18th over.

Nicholas Pooran blasted a hat-trick of sixes off Topley, a flat six off a dipping full-toss, followed by a repeat of the shot over deep point. He pulled a slow short one outside off and deposited into on the roof of the stadium for a 106m six. The over cost RCB 20 runs. Pooran hammered two back-to-back sixes off Siraj after the pacer had conceded only 1 run in three balls of the final over. LSG eventually got 181/5 in their 20 overs thanks to the Pooran blitzkrieg in the last two overs.

Brief scores:

Lucknow Super Giants 181/5 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 81, Nicholas Pooran 40 not out; Glenn Maxwell 2-23) against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. (IANS)

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