Lucknow Super Giants secured a nail-biting one-wicket victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a run chase of 213 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday. Despite being 37/3 at the end of the power-play, Lucknow made a stunning comeback, thanks to the impressive performances of Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran.
Mohammed Siraj gave Bangalore a good start as Kyle Mayers was dismissed after chopping onto his stumps. Wayne Parnell then dealt a double blow to Lucknow in the fourth over, forcing Deepak Hooda to nick behind a cutter to Dinesh Karthik and then Krunal Pandya to edge off an outswinger to the keeper.
Stoinis began his onslaught in the eighth over by flicking off the pads for six off Harshal Patel, then slashed through point and smacked a straight drive down the ground for back-to-back fours. He welcomed Karn Sharma with a pulled six over deep mid-wicket and struck a brace of fours before bringing a lofted driven six over long-off to get his fifty in 25 balls.
Pooran then took charge and began his blitz with a classic square cut off Siraj, followed by successive sixes. He slammed pulled sixes over fine leg and deep backward square, apart from a four cut through short third man. He sliced Parnell twice for fours and whacked him over long-on for a six that got him his fifty in just 15 balls.
Despite a magnificent performance, Pooran's blitzkrieg came to an end in the 17th over when he picked out deep backward square leg off a full toss from Siraj. Lucknow Super Giants continued to fight back with Ayush Badoni and Jaydev Unadkat contributing with some crucial boundaries.
As Bangalore fielded four fielders outside the circle in the final over due to over rate penalty, Harshal added more drama by castling Mark Wood and had Unadkat holing out to a juggling long-on.
After Harshal's attempt to run out Ravi Bishnoi and later running him out wasn't successful, a fumble from Karthik behind allowed Bishnoi and Avesh Khan to go for a leg-bye, taking Lucknow to a thrilling victory.
Lucknow Super Giants' impressive performance ensures that they remain a top contender in the ongoing tournament.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 212/2 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 79 not out, Virat Kohli 61; Amit Mishra 1/18, Mark Wood 1/32) lost to Lucknow Super Giants 213/9 in 20 overs (Marcus Stoinis 65, Nicholas Pooran 62; Wayne Parnell 3/41, Harshal Patel 2/48) by 1 wicket.