The RCB vs LSG game at M Chinnaswamy Stadium was a dramatic match in IPL history, breaking multiple records and having a change of momentum in every delivery. LSG chose to bowl first, and despite Virat Kohli’s quick 50-run stand, he was eventually dismissed by Amit Mishra. Faf du Plessis smashed the longest six of IPL 2023, and along with Glenn Maxwell, attacked the leg-spin bowlers, setting a massive target of 213 runs for LSG. LSG lost three wickets in the powerplay, but Marcus Stoinis and later Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran led a counter-attack, bringing the game back to a close finish. The game’s momentum shifted when Harshal Patel took two wickets in the final over, but LSG ultimately won with a quick single after a ‘Mankad-miss’ moment.
Marcus Stoinis: It was a beautiful pitch. I knew I had to be attacking but I also knew it was a pretty important stage of the game as well. It was nice to contribute to the team. We are a young franchise. We hadn’t won a game away from home this season yet, it’s important. We’re all getting on really well. That’s important to get some momentum early. It’s fun to hit the middle of the bat and contribute for the team. We did (when asked if his team believed that it was an achievable target), we actually bowled well in the powerplay, it was some beautiful batting from Virat and Faf. Some of those shots, you don’t see everyday. We bowled okay there and our spinners bowled beautifully. History suggests that 200 is pretty much par. The plan was to get off to a good start and go from there.
Marcus Stoinis’ highlights –
Mohammad Siraj dismissed the in-form Kyle Mayers, while Wayne Parnell took the wickets of Hooda and Krunal Pandya in the same over, resulting in three wickets in the powerplay.
Before Marcus Stoinis took on Harshal Patel and scored 17 runs off his first over, KL Rahul and Stoinis kept misfiring with the strike. After the initial blows, Stoinis led LSG’s counterattack and kept scoring. The Australian all-rounder reached his fifty off just 25 balls with a huge six off Shahbaz Ahmed, and he finished the 10th over with another six.
