Lucknow: Stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma conjured up a sensational unbeaten 85 to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru trump Rishabh Pant’s exceptional 118 and seal the team’s place in the IPL Qualifier 1 with a sensational six-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants, here Tuesday.
RCB will now face Punjab Kings in the Qualifier 1 at Mullanpur on Thursday.
RCB finished second on the table with 19 points, same as Punjab but finished behind them on net run rate — +0.30 against PBKS’ +0.37.
The RCB started in a hurry chasing an imposing 228, as Virat Kohli (54 off 30 balls) and Phil Salt (30 off 19b) added 61 runs in a mere 5.4 overs before Jitesh (85) and Mayank Agarwal (41) taking them home, making 107 runs for the impressive unbroken fifth wicket stand.
They eventually made 230/4 in 18.4 overs.
But it started with Kohli and Salt playing risk-free cricket even in the powerplay, hammering 12 fours in that phase before Salt getting dismissed by pacer Akash Khan.
But Kohli continued to pierce the field for boundaries even after the Power Play, and a back foot punch that raced to the fence for a four off Akash was a treat to watch.
The shot also carried Kohli past the fifty-run mark off just 27 balls, but he could not convert that into something bigger.
The senior batter tried to bunt pacer Avesh Khan over long-off but could not clear Ayush Badoni in that position.
RCB were 123/4 in 11.4 overs at that stage after losing out-of-form skipper Rajat Patidar and Liam Livingstone, who came in for injured Tim David, in the eighth over to pacer Will O’Rourke.
RCB were still 103 runs away from victory and the asking rate was touching almost 13. But Jitesh, who was saved by Digvesh Rathi’s back-foot no-ball on 49, and Agarwal pulverised LSG bowlers in their own style to take RCB home.
Jitesh, who had another slice of luck when Pant withdrew an appeal for run-out off Rathi when the batter was on 57, targeted the ‘V’ down the ground and the fine leg area through sweeps.
Agarwal, on the other hand, unboxed his trusted cut shots past the point fielder and covers to garner his boundaries with minimum risk.
Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants: 227/3 in 20 overs (Pant 118 not out, Micthell Marsh 67); Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 230/4 in 18.4 overs (Jitesh 85 not out, Kohli 54).