So, that is it from myself, Karthik Raj and my co-commentator, Pratyush Rohra. Do stay tuned to Sportskeeda for a lot more matches with the IPL continuing tomorrow as usual. ECS, Spice Isle T10 are also lined-up alongside the high-profile IPL. Until next time, it is a warm good-bye from us!

Faf du Plessis (Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper): Complete opposites. I thought we batted really well in the first six overs. You can play the same way in the Powerplay as you do at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Batting first was important. The make-up of their team, they had four spinners. Even Mahipal Lomror in the end, he got it grip and turn. If you bowl it on a good area here, it is pretty hard to score. Thought 135 would have been a good score while discussing with DK (DineshKarthik). We still thought our total was a match-winning score due to the nature of the surface. KL Rahul was also missing for them. I am super happy for Karn. He has bowled really well for us this season. Unbelievable from him tonight. Great to have Hazlewood back tonight, we missed his experience. 

Josh Hazlewood (Royal Challengers Bangalore): It's been a long way back. More excitement than nervousness to get back. It's a bit taxing to do that. The bowlers did a great job, happy to get the win in the end. 135 and around would have been a par score. The wicket was tough and slow. We had to take some pace off and the spinners did a great job tonight. (Atmosphere) It was super loud. A few guys on our team are quite passionate, so they had the crowd going. Nice to have them in our team. 

Krunal Pandya (Lucknow Super Giants vice-captain): First up we did pretty well. Restricting them to 126 was a great effort. Really happy with the way we have bowled in the tournament. Batting wise, we need to get ourselves together. It's such a sad thing. He pulled his hip flexor. I don't know how mad it is. The medical team will assess it and we'll see how it goes.

MATCH OVER!

Royal Challengers Bangalore win by 18 runs

Royal Challengers Bangalore 126-9 (20)
Lucknow Super Giants 108 (19.5)

Krishnappa Gowtham 23 (13) | Amit Mishra 19 (30)

Josh Hazlewood 3-0-15-2 | Karn Sharma 4-0-20-2

A disappointing loss for LSG at their home given the Ekana Stadium has been labeled as their fortress. However, the credit has to go to RCB who managed to put in a fantastic effort to defend 126-9 which was deemed below par by most at the half-way mark!

Faf du Plessis' men came out with full intent and Mohammad Siraj didn't take time to strike as he dismissed Kyle Mayers for a duck. Krunal Pandya tried to counter-attack with three boundaries off Siraj's second over. However, Faf introduced Glenn Maxwell and that paid rich dividends as Krunal holed out to Virat Kohli. Soon, Ayush Badoni's 11-ball struggle came to an end as Kohli plucked out a sharp catch at short extra-cover off Josh Hazlewood's bowling.

It seemed like Faf du Plessis had the magic wand as Wanindu Hasaranga also struck off his very first delivery to have Deepak Hooda stumped. Just like Krunal, Nicholas Pooran also came out with a positive intent. However, it turned out to be one shot too many as Pooran miscued an attempted big shot to deep square off Karn Sharma's bowling. This is when Marcus Stoinis and Krishnappa Gowtham came together to have a partnership. Gowtham took the aggressive stroke and he did it well with a couple of sixes. 

Yet, the game continued to twist and turn with Stoinis getting out to an ill-advised big shot after Gowtham had turned the equation to just over run-a-ball. Once Stoinis departed, Gowtham also got run-out in a bid to retain strike. With the established batsmen all in the hut, the onus was on Ravi Bishnoi and Amit Mishra to take the game deep. However, the pair struggled to keep the scorecard ticking and accumulated a lot of dot balls. Eventually, Bishnoi also got run-out in the 15th over. Thereafter, Naveen-ul-Haq added a few useful runs with some innovative shots but Hazlewood had his man as he got the Afghan caught-behind. The injured LSG skipper KL Rahul with 24 runs required off 8 balls. In the end, Rahul's injury hampered him too much while Mishra himself got deceived by a Harshal Patel slower ball as LSG got bowled out with a ball remaining!

19.5 Harshal Patel to Amit Mishra, GAME, SET, MATCH! Slower one on the fullish length to angle it into Mishra. He have a good old hoick at it, skying it over his head with Karthik settling underneath it for the simplest of catches to seal the deal. RCB clinch a low-scoring contest by 18 runs!

19.4 Harshal Patel to Amit Mishra, slower one at the shortish length to follow Mishra. He backs away to scythe it to deep point but they don't take the single

19.3 Harshal Patel to Amit Mishra, FOUR! He's waited responsibly for a while but now Mishraji can have some fun! Shuffles across to scoop this low full toss over short fine leg 

19.2 Harshal Patel to Amit Mishra, back of a length outside the off-stump. Mishra flat-bats it down to long-off. Rahul thought about taking the single but he can barely walk, no run

19.1 Harshal Patel to Amit Mishra, at the back of a length around the off-stump. Mishra throws the kitchen sink at and skews a thick inside edge that rolls behind square, no run

Anti-climatic for LSG and KL Rahul. Free-hit but Rahul is obviously limited with his injury. LSG need a difficult 23 off six balls now!

18.6 Josh Hazlewood to KL Rahul, at the back of a length and wide outside off. Would have been a wide had he left it but Rahul reaches out to chop it to cover-point, no run

18.6 Josh Hazlewood to KL Rahul, wide. Attempting the wide yorker but he's missed the tramline. Faf wanted to review it but the hooter goes off before that, signaling a no ball. 

18.5 Josh Hazlewood to KL Rahul, short of a length outside the off-stump. Rahul hacks his pull to deep mid-wicket and doesn't take the single. Well, he had to take that but he can barely jog

Edged and gone. Naveen's relatively knock has come to a soft end! However, KL Rahul will walk out now!

18.4 Josh Hazlewood to Naveen-ul-Haq, NICKED! GONE! Short of a length outside the off-stump. Naveen wafts at it, attempting a ramp but all he's managed is a faint nick to the keeper. RCB are nearly there. It's their game to lose.

Naveen-ul-Haq c Dinesh Karthik b Josh Hazlewood 13 (13b, 2*4 0*6)

18.3 Josh Hazlewood to Naveen-ul-Haq, FOUR! HE GETS IT THROUGH! Searching for the yorker outside the off-stump and Naveen set up for the ramp. Not sure he knows how he's got that way but the inside edge evades short fine leg and runs away into the boundary