Faf Du Plessis led from the front by scoring a fantastic 96 as the Royal Challengers Bangalore beat the Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday.
After being sent into bat by LSG skipper, Bangalore started disastrously by losing Anuj Rawat (4) and Virat Kohli (0) to Dushmantha Chameera in the first over.
Du Plessis along with Glenn Maxwell added 37 runs for the third wicket before the latter mistimed the reverse sweep off Krunal Pandya and was caught brilliantly at short third man by Jason Holder for a 11 ball-23.
Suyash Prabhudessai (10) also perished cheaply, chipping a catch to Pandya at short midwicket off Jason Holder.
The former South Africa skipper along with Shahbaz Ahmed brought the innings back on track with a valuable 70 run stand for the fifth wicket before the latter was run out for 26.
The in form Dinesh Karthik (13*) smashed Avesh Khan for a six over long off in the penultimate over.
However Du Plessis (96) missed out on a well deserved hundred after holing out to Marcus Stoinis at deep backward square leg off Jason Holder. In the end the Royal Challengers ended up with an impressive total of 181/6 in their 20 overs.
For Lucknow, Dushmantha Chameera and Jason Holder claimed 2 wickets each.
Chasing 182, Josh Hazlewood got RCB off to an excellent start by picking up wickets of Quinton De Kock and Manish Pandey inside the powerplay.
Harshal Patel then claimed the prize scalp of skipper Rahul caught down the leg side for 30, leaving the Super Giants in a spot of bother at 64/3.
Krunal Pandya along with Deepak Hooda added 36 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter fell to a fine catch at deep third man by Prabhudessai off Mohammed Siraj.
Krunal’s valuable innings of 42 off 28 balls came to an end, as he holed out to deep midwicket by Shahbaz Ahmed off Glenn Maxwell.
Hazlewood dented Lucknow’s hopes by dismissing Marcus Stoinis bowled, while trying to walk across his stumps for 15 ball-24, as the KL Rahul’s men could muster 163/8, losing the match by 18 runs.
For Bangalore, Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/25.
Royal Challengers Babngalore 181/6 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 96; Dushmantha Chameera 2-31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 163/8 in 20 overs (Krunal Pandya 42; Josh Hazlewood 4-25) by 18 runs.