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Watch: Harshal fluffs run-out, Karthik fumbles, Avesh throws helmet, fan cries - The craziest last over in RCB vs LSG
Harshal Patel and Dinesh Karthik slipped up two chances for RCB allowing LSG to win the IPL 2023 contest by one wicket in a thrilling last-over finish.
Two days, two last-ball finishes. The IPL 2023 is just getting started. After an eventful Sunday evening where Rinku Singh stunned Gujarat Titans out of the blue, madness ensued in another dramatic last-over finish which saw the Lucknow Super Giants edge RCB by 1 wicket on Monday. Needing five to win off the last over, RCB and LSG fought tooth and nail and took the game to the last ball as Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi held their nerves to steal the single that was required for victory.
The final over was filled with tense and palpable moments. Till the time Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni were batting, everything looked under control for LSG. They needed 24 off the last 19 balls with five wickets remaining, but once Mohammed Siraj snuffed out Pooran for a crazy innings of 62 off 19 balls, and Badoni was hit wicket after connecting a ball that sailed for six, it all came down the LSG's last-wicket pair of Avesh and Bishnoi to get them over the line.
Harshal Patel was tasked with bowling the final over. LSG could have done it in singles and that's exactly how the over began as Jaydev Unadkat tucked a single to bring Mark Wood on strike. But the next ball, Harshal cleaned him up. Bishnoi, the new man in, then intelligently tucked the ball towards a vacant area on the off-side as he and Unadkat scampered through for a couple of runs. Bishnoi then showed nerves of steel to pluck a single out of nowhere on the next delivery to get Unadkat, who has three First-Class fifties to his name, on strike.
Watch the video below:
With two balls left and the scores tied, the chances of Super Over reigned supreme. Harshal banged the ball in short and Unadkat, going for the glory shot, found Faf du Plessis in the deep. This brought Avesh on strike for the final ball, with LSG needing one to win off one. But there was more drama. As Harshal ran in to bowl the final delivery, he stopped in his tracks, and with Bishnoi backing too far at the non-striker's end, attempted to run him out. However, he fumbled to take the bails off, and as Bishnoi attempted to get back in his crease, threw the ball back, and although it connected, the run out did not count.
Right then. Still 1 off 1, Harshal foxed Avesh Khan but Dinesh Karthik juggled and failed to pick the ball. By the time he did and threw it back, Bishnoi had sprinted down like any track and field athlete would in a 100-meter dash, while at the other end, Avesh took off his helmet and threw it on the ground as LSG celebrated arguably one of their most insane wins of all time.
The cameras then panned towards Virat Kohli in the deep, who seemed to have passed on a look to his wife Anushka Sharma in the stands. Du Plessis had his hands in the air out of dejection. The two had once again put on a show with the bat scoring explosive half-centuries - Kohli blasted his second fifty in three matches and Faf belted an unbeaten 79 off 46 balls - to power RCB to 212/2. Even Glenn Maxwell joined in on the fun, running away to a 29-ball 59 but their bowlers failed to back the hard work put in by the batters.
That doesn't mean they started off poorly. Mohammed Siraj picked 3/22, whereas Wayne Parnell grabbed a three-for of his own. LSG were in all sorts of trouble at 99/4 when Marcus Stoinis perished after scoring an entertaining 65 off 30 balls - a knock that included five sixes. The stage was then set for Pooran, who smashed 7 fours and four boundaries during his 19-ball blitzkrieg en route to the fastest fifty of this IPL season.
