Faf du Plessis and Josh Hazlewood's synergy helps Bangalore to cruise past Lucknow

In reply, Lucknow was restricted to 163 as Bangalore bowlers clinched wickets at regular intervals and didn't let Lucknow batsmen set their feet on the ground.

Faf du Plessis slams a much-needed knock

Sent in to bat first, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were in a bit of a situation when they saw their opener, Anuj Rawat and former captain, get out on successive bowls. Where Anuj Rawat was caught for 4 runs, former captain Virat Kohli was sent back to the pavilion on a golden duck by Lucknow star Dushmantha Chameera.

Bangalore's innings now required someone to step up and take it upon themselves to add a fifty or ton to the scoreboard. And Captain Faf du Plessis did just that. In his innings of 64-balls and 96 runs, the South African stalwart hit Lucknow bowlers for an astonishing 11 boundaries and 2 sixes.

Forming partnerships with the entire batting roster of Royal Challengers Bangalore Faf du Plessis ensured that his side ended up with a good total until he was finally caught on the 2nd last ball of the innings at deep square leg.

Other batsmen also contributed to the scoreboard, with Maxwell scoring a quick 11 balls 23 and Shahbaz Ahmed adding a steady 26 runs. Finally, Dinesh Karthik left the pitch unbeaten with 13 runs. With a final 181 runs, Bangalore looked in a comfortable position to defend their total.

Josh Hazlewood perfectly complements Faf du Plessis' innings

If you ask what was the secret sauce to Bangalore's win over Lucknow, it would be their bowling line-up that didn't provide breathing space to the Lucknow batsman. And it was Josh Hazlewood who led the charge.

Hazlewood quickly drew first blood as he took out wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock in the 3rd over for just 3 runs. Then, Manish Pandey was sent back to the pavilion on the 5th over for just 6 runs.

After two quick dismissals in the power play, the Lucknow batsmen decided to play carefully. With captain K.L.Rahul and Krunal Pandya on strike, the duo was able to add 31 runs to the scoreboard. However, that partnership was also short-lived as Rahul was caught on the final ball of the 8th over by Dinesh Karthik.

Then Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni joined the pitch and left quickly after scoring 13 runs each. Krunal Pandya also fell prey to Bangalore's bowling in the midst of this and fell short of 8 runs to score his fifty.

Marcus Stoinis came to bat and showed a glimmer of hope to the Lucknow Super Giants with his power hitting, but Hazlewood found a solution for him too and bowled him out in the 19th over. After Stoinis' dismissal, Jason Holder tried his luck with the bat, but still, his side fell short of 18 runs to take home a win.

With this win, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have won 5 of their 7 matches and are now 2nd on the points table, just below the Gujarat Titans. At the same time, the Lucknow Super Giants have been displaced to 4th position.

Bangalore will try to continue their winning ways against the Rajasthan Royals later this month, whereas Lucknow will try to return to the win column against Mumbai Indians in their 8th IPL match.