It was always going to be a difficult chase with 212 runs on the board. The Lucknow Super Giants made it tougher by losing three wickets in the powerplay and scoring only 37 runs. Marcus Stoinis though was a breath of fresh air as he got 65 off just 30 balls and brought some life into a game which was turning dead pretty soon.
Stoinis and KL Rahul got out in quick succession forcing Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni to start fresh. And boy did they restart! Pooran hit the fastest IPL fifty in just 15 balls and eventually scored 62 off just 19 balls to get the Super Giants super close to victory.
Badoni was brilliant too. He almost got them home with a six when 7 were needed off 9 balls, but hit the wicket in the follow-through of that scoop which went for a six.
With five needed off the last over, Harshal Patel bowled Mark Wood and got Unadkat caught in the deep and brought the game down to 1 needed off 1 with one wicket in hand. He attempted to run Ravi Bishnoi at the non-striker’s end when the latter was backing up, but missed the stumps, hit it after completing the followthrough and thus the ball was declared dead.
On the re-ball, he beat Avesh Khan, but Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps couldn’t collect the ball properly as the Lucknow duo completed the single and won the match by one wicket.
Earlier in the evening, after being asked to bat first, Bangalore scored 212/2 in their 20 overs, thanks to brilliant fifties from Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell.
 "IPL 2023, RCB vs LSG Highlights: Pooran shines in Lucknow's thrilling win")
