Royal Challengers Bengaluru had yet another tough night on the field as they faced a 28-run defeat against Lucknow Super Giants at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday. This was RCB’s third defeat in fourth match and they are stuck at the ninth spot on the points table. Asked to bat first, LSG posted a total of 181/5 in 20 overs with Quinton de Kock smashing 81 off 56 balls. Later, the hosts stumbled in the chase and were bundled out for 153. Mahipal Lomror was the only batter in RCB’s line-up who crossed the 30-run mark.
Talking about RCB’s flop show, former India batter Manoj Tiwary stated that the failure of the middle order is making Faf du Plessis and co miss the legendary AB de Villiers.
“They should have chased down this target. I think the absence of AB de Villiers is now hurting them. All-rounder Cameron Green is an emerging player who is doing very well for Australia but has failed to perform for RCB. However, he scored runs in the last match. Rajat Patidar was sent to bat at No 3 and Green, who had performed well in the last match, was not sent. And Glenn Maxwell is also an another flop bet. If you check his IPL stats, he is a great performer. If you are not giving a match-winning performance in all 14 matches, then at least deliver in 7-8 matches,” Tiwary said on Cricbuzz.
Former India batter Virender Sehwag, who was also a part of the discussion, reacted to Tiwary’s statement and said, “7-8? Even Virat Kohli can’t deliver a match-winning performance in 7-8 matches. Every team expects it’s expensive players to play a big innings in at least 2-3 matches. If a player can guide team to victory in 2-3 matches, then it’s a very big achievement.”
“A player needs to give consistent performances likes scoring 100 runs in one game, 80 runs in second, and so on. Taking team to victory in 7-8 matches, this can only be possible in a year and not in IPL. In 17 years of IPL, I have never seen any player playing 7-8 match-winning knocks for his team,” he added.
Talking about the match, LSG were put to bat and managed to post a handsome score of 181/5 following de Kock’s rollicking 81 off 56 deliveries.
In reply, RCB struggled to put up meaningful partnerships which led to their downfall and sealed a 28-run defeat for the hosts.
With two wins in three matches, LSG will face the 2022 champions Gujarat Titans on Sunday while RCB will be squaring off against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday.
