IPL 2022, CSK vs RCB, Top Performances: Lomror 42, Maxwell 2-22, Harshal 3-35 bring RCB in Top 4

IPL 2022, CSK vs RCB, Top Performances: Mahipal Lomror's 42, Glenn Maxwell's 2-22 and Maheesh Theekshana's 3-27 are top three performances from CSK vs RCB game.

RCB beat CSK by 13 runs and move to 4th place in points table (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Brief Scores: RCB 173/8 (Lomror 42, Theekshana 3-27, Moeen 2-28) beats CSK 160/8 (Conway 56, Harshal 3-35, Maxwell 2-22) by 13 runs

Player of the Match: Harshal Patel (3-35 in his four overs)

Sixth-ranked Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were up against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who had grabbed momentum after a dismal start in the season, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Wednesday evening.

In their last meeting, the Super Kings, on the back of expansive batting display from Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dubey, earned their first victory of the season. Moreover, they had a 19-9 lead over Bangalore in IPL history before going into this game.

Chennai captain, MS Dhoni, in his 200th IPL game for CSK, won the toss and opted to bowl first. While the Yellow Army had replaced Moeen Ali with Mitchell Santner, RCB had retained the same playing eleven.

Bangalore get back to winning ways with all-round show

Put into bat first, RCB got off to a flying start with 57/0 in the powerplay. This was their first fifty-run opening partnership after six games in this season. Even after that great start, Bangalore slipped from 62/0 to 79/3 in the space of 16 balls, losing Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell. It was the 11th time that Moeen Ali got the better of Kohli across formats.

Later, Mahipal Lomror’s quickfire 42 runs in just 27 balls did accelerate RCB in the back end but Theekshana’s three wickets conceding just two runs in the 19th over pulled the game back for CSK as Bangalore finished with 173/8 in their 20 overs.

Just like Bangalore, CSK too got off to a good start with 54 on the board in the seventh over before losing their path in the middle overs, losing wickets at regular intervals. From 109/3 they tumbled to 135/7, losing all their big players including the half-centurion, Devon Conway and skipper MS Dhoni. Dwaine Pretorius did slap a few sixes in the last over but that was too late for them as Bangalore got back to winning ways with a 13 run victory.

This is now the first time RCB successfully defended a 172+ score against CSK in IPL.

Let’s take a look at the top three performances from the game between RCB and CSK.

Maheesh Theekshana took 3 wickets in an over against RCB (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Theekshana’s three wickets in the 19th over pulled things back for Chennai

Even though Chennai Super Kings had dismissed the big three, i.e., Du Plessis, Maxwell and Kohli in a short span of 16 balls, Bangalore were looking good to cross the 180+ barrier with Mahipal Lomror’s quickfire innings. MS Dhoni threw the ball to Sri Lankan mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana in the 19th over.

Theekshana, who had 0/25 in three overs till then, sent back Mahipal Lomror who got caught at the long on fence on the first ball of the 19th over to slow down Bangalore in the end. On the very second ball of the over, he got rid of Wanindu Hasaranga thanks to a good juggling catch from Ruturaj Gaikwad.

To end the over, he disturbed the furniture to get the better of Shahbaz Ahmed for the second time in the season. The over saw him picking three wickets spending just two runs as Bangalore could reach just 173 at the end.

Maheesh Theekshana, who finished with 4-33 in the last encounter with RCB, ended with 3-27 last evening.

Read More: IPL 2022, CSK vs SRH Top Performances: Ruturaj-Conway 182-run stand stuns SRH; CSK get 3rd win

Maxwell provided much needed breakthrough with the ball to RCB (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Glenn Maxwell destroyed Chennai with ball in hand

Glenn Maxwell hadn’t had a great evening with the bat, being dismissed for a personal sore of 3 via a run out. But he was expected to play a role in the game with ball in hand, given how slow and spin-friendly the track was.

Chennai were off a great start with 59/1 in just seven overs when Maxwell was introduced into the attack. With his second ball, he sent back Robin Uthappa, who tried to cut a short ball but ended up finding the backward point fielder. It was the very first time that Maxwell had the better of Uthappa in IPL.

In his second over, Maxwell uprooted the stumps of Ambati Rayudu on a personal score of 10. Rayudu, in an attempt to guide the ball towards the third man area, saw the bails flashing. It was also the first time Maxwell dismissed Rayudu in IPL.

He went on to finish with 2/22 in his four overs; his effort of drying up the runs saw the pressure climbing on Chennai.

Read More: IPL 2022, RCB vs GT, Top Performances: Tewatia-Miller 79* stand gives GT 8th win; RCB face trial now

Mahipal Lomror played a quick-fire 27-ball-42-run innings against CSK (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Lomror backfired at the end to take RCB to a fighting score

After a great start in the powerplay, Bangalore lost their way in the middle losing wickets in a cluster. When Maxwell was dismissed by a run out, the 22-year-old Mahipal Lomror from Rajasthan, whom RCB bagged at INR 95 lakhs, made his way to the middle.

In 33 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy games, Lomror had 803 runs in 33 innings with a strike rate of 120.3.

In the early stages of the game, he spent some time in the middle before cracking a few boundaries. The six he slogged over the deep square leg fence against Theekshana was outstanding to watch. He added more boundaries besides his name before being caught in the 18th over.

He might not have scores his half-century, but his 42 in 27 balls consisting of three fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 155.56 helped Bangalore to reach a fighting total.

Read More: IPL 2022, RR vs RCB, Top Performances: Parag's late surge (56*), Sen's 4-20 take RR back to number 1

TATA IPL 2022 Points Table

TATA IPL 2022 Points Table: RCB beat CSK and move to 4th place

Qualification Scenarios

With this loss, the season is almost over for Chennai who can only finish on 14 points at the most now while RCB, on the other hand, after getting back to winning ways, have to win all their games at least to confirm their place in the playoffs with a maximum of 18 points. They are currently at the fourth place.

What’s to come

Delhi Capitals (DC) will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on May 5.

Here are some of the top twitter reactions from RCB vs CSK game as RCB beat CSK by 13 runs and move to 4th place in points table.

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