A new fast bowler, Mayank Yadav, has made an appearance for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. After being awarded Player of the Match in the last game, Mayank continued to impress with his performance against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), taking three wickets for just 14 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. This crucial contribution led LSG to a 28-run win.

RCB made a strong start against a target of 182, thanks to the efforts of Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli. With the support of the home crowd, the openers put on 40 runs and executed some impressive shots. One shot that particularly stood out was Kohli’s lofted hit off Naveen-ul-Haq in the fourth over, which sailed directly towards the ground and landed within the boundary.

In the fifth over, M Siddharth managed to silence the noisy Bengaluru crowd by taking Kohli’s edge, leading to the ball being caught by Devdutt Padikkal at point. In response, LSG made the decision to bring in Mayank. In the sixth over, du Plessis hit the ball towards mid-wicket and quickly ran for a single, but Padikkal swiftly retrieved it and threw it to the non-striker’s end, resulting in the RCB captain being dismissed. Shortly after, Glenn Maxwell attempted to pull a ball but only ended up lobbing it to mid-on, leading to his own dismissal. This turn of events caused RCB to go from a comfortable 40 for no loss to a struggling 44 for three.

Following the powerplay, Cameron Green successfully hit a four through mid-on off Mayank’s delivery. In response, Mayank bowled a fuller delivery angled towards the stumps. Green was unable to keep up with the pace of the ball, resulting in his stumps being knocked over. This unfortunate event put RCB in a precarious position.

Rajat Patidar (29 off 21) put up a fight with some help from Anuj Rawat. But as the required run rate increased, RCB felt the pressure. Mayank, who had already taken two wickets, returned to dismiss Patidar for his third wicket. Patidar was caught at deep square-leg while attempting a pull shot. Despite this, RCB still had hope as Mahipal Lomror aggressively batted and kept them in the game. He scored a quick 33 runs off 13 balls before getting caught at long-off. However, Yash Thakur and Naveen-ul-Haq of LSG delivered crucial blows to secure victory after Mayank’s impressive spell.

In the morning, LSG was chosen to bat first by RCB’s leader du Plessis. Quinton de Kock was the main player in their innings, showcasing his determination by hitting a four with a loft over cover and another with a cut through point in the first over delivered by Reece Topley. In the third over, he flicked Mohammad Siraj over fine-leg for the initial six of the game. The following delivery was also lifted over square leg for another six.

During his time at bat, KL Rahul quickly joined in on the action by hitting two sixes. However, in the final over of the powerplay, he was caught out after trying to hit another big shot after sweeping Glenn Maxwell for six. Devdutt Padikkal, who followed Rahul, was unable to get a good start and was also dismissed in the ninth over when he hit a top-edge off a delivery from Siraj. Anuj Rawat made a great play by running back and catching the ball.

In the match, Marcus Stoinis scored 24 runs in 15 balls and managed to hit two sixes before getting out by Maxwell’s delivery. Meanwhile, de Kock played a crucial role in keeping the team’s innings steady with his impressive knock of 81 off 56 balls. He showed great judgement in choosing when to score and kept the team, LSG, in the race for a high score. However, after he was dismissed in the 17th over, the responsibility of scoring the remaining runs was left on Nicholas Pooran.

During the final two overs, Pooran launched a strong offensive and hit a total of five sixes. Although LSG’s pace slowed down during the middle overs, Pooran’s explosive performance of an unbeaten 40 runs off 21 balls pushed them past 180 runs. RCB’s top bowler, Glenn Maxwell, managed to take two wickets and only gave up 23 runs in his four overs. Yash Dayal also made a contribution with one wicket for 24 runs in his allotted overs.

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