Jitesh's unbeaten 85 trumps Pant ton as RCB make Qualifier 1
Agencies
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) stormed into Qualifier 1 of IPL 2025 as stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma's 85 not out off 33 balls helped them pull off the third-highest successful chase in the tournament's history, reports espncricinfo.com.
Rishabh Pant's unbeaten 118 off 61 balls had powered Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to 227 for 3, but RCB chased it down with eight balls and six wickets to spare. They will now face table-toppers Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on Thursday.
Virat Kohli and Phil Salt gave RCB a start of 61 in 5.4 overs. Salt began the first over with a four; Kohli ended it with a four. Salt began the second over with a four; Kohli ended it with four fours. After four overs, RCB had raced to 50 for no loss. Akash Singh broke through with Salt's wicket, but Kohli carried on. He chipped Shahbaz Ahmed over his head for a four before hitting Akash on the up through covers to raise his fifty off 27 balls.
Having conceded 22 in his first over, Will O'Rourke returned to bowl the eighth over of the innings. Rajat Patidar, who was playing as Impact Player once again, picked him up over deep square leg for a six.
Two balls later, Kohli hit him over extra cover for four. But O'Rourke had the last laugh as Patidar slashed his fifth ball straight to Abdul Samad at backward point. Off the next, he had Liam Livingstone lbw with a full delivery. Kohli fell soon after his fifty, slicing Avesh Khan to long-off.
With RCB still needing 105 from 8.4 overs, ESPNcricinfo's forecaster gave them a 21.07% chance of winning.
Jitesh started with a boundary off the first ball, but Akash conceded only seven in the 13th over to increase RCB's troubles - they needed 89 from seven. Mayank Agarwal had got off to a brisk start and was on 27 off 15 at that point. But Jitesh decided to take matters into his own hands and hit O'Rourke for a six and a four in a 17-run over.
When Shahbaz came on for the 15th over, Jitesh took him apart. He hit him for two fours and a six before Agarwal ended the over with a boundary off his own. That over went for 21 and tilted the balance in RCB's favour. Now they needed only 51 from five overs.
Jitesh hit two more fours off Avesh in the next before having a slice of luck. With 39 required from four overs, he tried a reverse sweep off Digvesh Rathi only to be caught at backward point. It was a low catch and the on-field umpires wanted the TV umpire to have a look. But even before that, the TV umpire found Rathi's backfoot touching the return crease.
Jitesh heaved the resulting free hit over deep midwicket to bring up his fifty off 22 balls. Surprisingly, it was his first-ever IPL fifty.
The drama didn't end there. As Rathi ran in for the last ball of the over, he aborted and broke the stumps at the non-striker's end. Jitesh was out of his crease at that point. However, the TV umpire ruled it not out, saying Rathi had completed his 'delivery stride' before effecting the run out. In the meantime, Pant had withdrawn the appeal.
With 28 required from the last three overs, Jitesh smashed O'Rourke for two fours and two sixes and then completed the formality with a slog-swept six off Ayush Badoni in the penultimate over.
ScorescColor:> Lucknow Super Giants 227 for 3 (Pant 118*, Marsh 67, Thushara 1-26) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 230 for 4 (Jitesh 85*, Kohli 54, O'Rourke 2-74).
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