IPL 2022 | LSG vs RCB - Post-Match Analysis

Over the past decade and more, the Indian Premier League has manufactured various hard-fought battles. And the battle between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore was another interesting one, but it became a bit lopsided in the last half of the second innings. 

RCB got to a challenging 181, thanks to a fantastic captain’s knock from Faf du Plessis, who scored more than 50 per cent of the team’s runs. On the other hand, Lucknow got good starts from KL Rahul and Krunal Pandya, but no one could capitalize and stay on the crease till the end of the innings. 

Let us first Analyze the batting performance from a phase-wise point of view.

RCB Batting Analysis

Here we can see that, similar to their previous matches, RCB ended up losing a minimum of 2 wickets in the powerplay. But a very crucial pillar in their batting lineup was their skipper. Faf du Plessis who stayed at one end even when wickets were falling at the other end. We can also see that they have gradually lost fewer wickets in the middle and death overs. 

A fascinating point to note here is that in the middle overs, they have maintained a healthy strike rate and a colossal strike rotation percentage value of 61.67. Due to this, the number of balls played to a dot conceded is very high (8). They couldn’t finish on a high note in the death, thanks to some deadly death bowling, but they still had a decent strike rate of 170.83 with just one dismissal. 

Lucknow had started on a similar pattern to their competitor, losing two big wickets in the powerplay, but KL Rahul kept the scoreboard ticking. One of the most significant and noticeable differences between RCB’s middle overs and Lucknow’s middle-over phase is the former had lost only two wickets. In contrast, Lucknow lost 3 of their main batters due to the building pressure. 

Another noticeable point is that of the strike rotation percentage, which is much lower for Lucknow, and this was primarily because of their regular dot ball consumption (balls per dot value of 2.6 in this phase) and this just kept increasing the required run rate which put pressure on the lower middle-order batter to provide the impetus to finish. 

They also had a fragile death over phase, losing three wickets and striking at a mere 145.8 when the required run rate was creeping close to 15.

Now let us analyze the most impactful performance with the ball and bat 

FAF DU PLESSIS 96 (64)

Against Pacers 

This line and length split gives us a good idea of which deliveries he was willing to take a risk. Here we can see that he has respected all the good and short length balls and has been careful to play at them. But he has taken on fuller deliveries at lines outside the off-stump or wide outside off stump. 

He was also aggressive for the short length and middle stump ball. Still, then, unfortunately, Another exciting factor here is that du Plessis has a control shot percentage of just 85.72 against pacers in the 37 deliveries he has faced against them in today’s match.

Against Spinners

This breakup chart is especially for spinners, and on an overall glance, we can see how wonderfully the RCB skipper has played spin today. He has respected deliveries around the good length and has taken on the spinners when they either pitch up the ball a tad fuller or if they end up bowling rank hops/short balls. 

Another interesting fact to note here is that du Plessis had a control shot percentage of 93.4 against spinners in the 29 deliveries he had faced, which is stunning for a batter who has stayed throughout the 20 overs of the innings.

Hazlewood’s 4 for 25

Hazlewood is always known for his consistent line and lengths across all formats of the game, and he proved no different today by picking up four wickets and standing out as the best bowler of the match. 

The pacer started off the powerplay spell by picking up two big wickets - Quinton de Kock and Manish Pandey. Then, in the death overs, he restricted the flow of runs and picked up a couple more wickets, including the likes of Aayush Badoni and Marcus Stoinis.

The above chart tells us how consistent Hazlewood has been with his lines. He has also mixed up his lengths, and some extra bounce in the pitch helped him scalp two wickets with the short ball and bouncer. However, he did not try to overdo much with variations and stuck to classic bowling. 

We can also see that generally, good length delivery outside the off-stump is the go-to delivery for pacers. In contrast, for Hazelwood in this particular match, full-length delivery just outside the off-stump proved more pivotal.