Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Lucknow Supergiants by 18 runs to claim their fifth win in the Indian Premier League.
Virat Kohli’s 31 off 30 balls and Faf du Plessis’ 44 off 40 balls helped Bangalore to 126-9 in Lucknow.
Lucknow captain KL Rahul went off injured in the first innings but returned in the last over to help his team recover.
But with 23 needed in the last over, Lucknow were all out for 108.
The two teams are level on 10 points but Lucknow, who are leading on net run rate, have slipped to third place while Bangalore have slipped to fifth place.
Kohli and du Plessis put on the biggest partnership of the match, putting on 62 off 54 balls, before the Indian batsman was stumped by Ayush Baduni.
Naveen-ul-Haq’s three-wicket spell dismissed Mahipal Lomrur, Karan Sharma and Mohammad Siraj as the visitors slumped from 114-6 to 121-9 in the space of two overs.
In reply, Lucknow struggled to capitalize on their home advantage and were already 0-1 down in the first over when Kyle Meyers was caught out by India’s Mohammad Siraj.
Ayush Baduni and Krunal Pandya put on a partnership of 19 runs off 19 balls before both were caught out by Kohli.
Lucknow were 34-4 after losing four wickets in the powerplay but Marcus Stoinis and Krishnappa Gautam gave their fans some hope when their partnership added 27 to the total.
But when Naveen took a catch off Josh Hazlewood (2-15) to bring the injured skipper to the crease, it looked like the game was over.
Lucknow needed 23 runs from the last over but Rahul was struggling to run between the wickets and saw Amit Mishra caught by Hazlewood on the last ball of the match.
