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Lucknow
The Indian Premier League’s last match before the playoffs ended up being a classic as the Royal Challengers Bangalore recorded their best chase in franchise history. With the win last night, they ended their season at the second spot in the points table. They will now face the Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1 and have an extra chance to make the playoffs.
Yesterday, RCB was missing their captain, Rajat Patidar and was being led by stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma who was leading the franchise for the first time. But no one could’ve predicted the type of innings that Sharma played yesterday to help his team snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat.
RCB were playing their last league match of IPL 2025 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Tuesday against the Lucknow Super Giants. The match didn’t begin in RCB’s favor at first as LSG was running through their bowling lineup. Although Matthew Breetzke got out early, Mitchell Marsh continued hitting the ball and smashed a half century, showcasing his sublime form.
For a change Rishabh Pant, who had a disaster of a season this year after getting bought for a record 27 crores, came to bat at no. 3 position and he looked like the Pant that everyone knows. He looked like his old self, timing the ball to perfection and hitting shots that only he can hit. Pant smashed a fantastic century scoring 118 runs of 61 balls with 11 fours and 8 sixes. He carried LSG to a gigantic total of 227 and a win seemed inevitable from that position.
To many it seemed as a lost match but RCB came in with a plan and attacked the LSG bowlers from ball one. Virat Kohli and Phill Salt gave them a good start with the latter scoring a blistering half-century. But then RCB lost quick wickets and the chase seemed like a lost cause to everyone not named Jitesh Sharma. The right-handed batter started smashing bowlers left right and centre and carried RCB with total support from Mayank Agarwal from the other end.
Sharma was awarded Man of the Match award for his knock of 85 runs of 33 balls with 8 fours and 6 sixes with the help of which RCB reached the mammoth of the target with 8 balls remaining. Now Bangalore will be seen in action on Thursday 29th May facing Punjab Kings and will hope to qualify to the finals with a win against them.
