This was a must-win game for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and facing Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) shouldn't have been a daunting task. A win would have secured them a spot in Qualifier 1, helping them avoid facing Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Eliminator.
However, without Josh Hazlewood, RCB's bowling attack looked weakened, allowing LSG to post a 200+ total at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. To make matters worse, they even helped an out-of-form Rishabh Pant score a comfortable century.
Many took to X (formerly Twitter) to comment on how Pant！who had frequently been dismissed for single-digit scores this season！went on to score a century, punishing every RCB bowler in the process. LSG went on to post 227 for 2 wickets with Pant smashing 118 for 61 including 11 fours and 8 sixes.
One said, "Pant decided to get his form back in a game that's almost a must win for RCB."?
Another said, "RCB did the unthinkable, unachievable. They brought Rishabh Pant back to form".??
One wrote, "RCB's bowling is so cooked that even not in form pant scored a century against them!"?
Another wrote, "A player like Rishabh Pant, who is completely out of form, is smashing our bowlers with ease. This just shows how poorly RCB¨s bowling unit is performing."
Royal Challengers Bengaluru?(Playing XI):?Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarawal, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w/c), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Nuwan Thushara, Suyash Sharma
Impact Subs:?Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh??
Lucknow Super Giants?(Playing XI):?Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Breetzke, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Avesh Khan, William ORourke
Impact Subs:?Akash Maharaj Singh, Prince Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshin Kulkarni, Yuvraj Chaudhary??