Leading from the front, skipper Faf du Plessis played a terrific knock (96 off 64) and steered Royal Challengers Bangalore to 181-6 in 20 overs.

 

Invited to bat first, RCB were off to a terrible start as they lost three wickets -- Anuj Rawat (4), Virat Kohli (0) and Glenn Maxwell (23) inside the powerplay. At 44/3 after 5.2 overs, RCB were in a spot of bother but Faf du Plessis took on the mantle of batting through the innings.

 

He anchored the innings to perfection by stitching a crucial 70-run stand for the fifth wicket with Shahbaz Ahmed (26) and a 49-run partnership with Dinesh Karthik (13 not out off 8) for the sixth wicket, helping RCB post a competitive total before getting on the penultimate ball of the final over.

 

Jason Holder (2/25) and Dushmantha Chameera (2/31) picked two wickets each while Krunal Pandya (1/29) got one wicket for Lucknow.

 

Chasing a competitive total, Lucknow kept losing wickets at regular intervals and gave RCB back-to-back chances to make a comeback in the game. Krunal Pandya (42 off 28), K.L. Rahul (30 off 24), Marcus Stoinis (24 off 15) and Jason Holder (16 off 8) tried hard but it was not enough as Lucknow were restricted to 163/8 in 20 overs, losing by 18 runs.

 

Apart from Hazlewood, Harshal Patel (47/2), Glenn Maxwell (1/11), and Mohammed Siraj (1/31) also picked important wickets for RCB.

 

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 181/6 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 96, Shahbaz Ahmed 26; Jason Holder 2/25) beat Lucknow Super Giants 163-8 in 20 overs (Krunal Pandya 42, K.L. Rahul 30; Josh Hazlewood 4/25) by 18 runs