This season has somewhat found RCB stuck in a rut and it seems like the night prolonged a bit more than what RCB bargained for. In what would be another disappointing outcome, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru went down fighting against the touring Lucknow Super Giants.

Winning the toss, RCB opted to field first. Despite a fiery start from Quinton de Kock (81) and KL Rahul (20), Glenn Maxwell’s early strike reeled the Giants back in. The fall of Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal (6) in quick succession opened up a window of opportunity for the hosts.

However, the arrival of Marcus Stoinis calmed the frayed nerves and the duo added 56 runs for the third wicket. Maxi, the pick of the bowling lot, managed to get the better of Stoinis while Reece Topley and Yash Dayal got the better of de Kock and Ayush Badoni in short succession to pose a stern challenge to LSG.

Despite reeling at 148/5 from 18 overs, the final two overs went horribly wrong for RCB as Reece Topley and Mohammed Siraj were taken to the cleaners by Nicholas Pooran, who stayed unbeaten for 40 from just 21 balls. LSG posted a total of 182 at the end of 20 overs. Glenn Maxwell was the pick of the bowling lot with figures of 2/23.

Chasing 182, RCB did get off to a feisty start with Faf du Plessis (19) and Virat Kohli (22) hammering away a few early shots. However, once M Siddharth got the better of Virat Kohli, it all felt like a house of cards toppling in the face of a storm. Faf du Plessis ran himself out while Maxi (0) and Cameron Green (9) were dismissed by Mayank Yadav’s blistering pace.

Anuj Rawat (11) and Rajat Patidar (29) did well to throw a stopper in the chaos but their resistance was short lived as Marcus Stoinis removed Rawat while Mayank Yadav returned for a second spell that sent Patidar back to the pavilion.

Mahipal Lomror was the last glimmer of hope as his introduction as the Impact substitute saw him hacking his way through the LSG bowlers. Lomror clobbered 33 off just 13 balls but lack of support at the other end saw RCB’s resistance fizzle away into thin air as they lost the match by 28 runs.