Lucknow Super Giants'Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 journey came to an end following a 14-run defeat in the Eliminator to Royal Challengers Bangalore. While several current and former cricketers have slammed them for their batting strategy, LSG were also sloppy on the field and put down too many catches. Rajat Patidar, who stole the show with his 54-ball 112*, was dropped thrice. LSG skipper KL Rahul was in the spotlight as he dropped Patidar and also Dinesh Karthik, who also played a counter-attacking knock of 37 off just 23 balls.
During the 15th over of RCB's innings, Karthik mistimed his pull off Mohsin Khan's delivery, and ended up hitting it towards wide mid-off. Rahul, who covered a lot of ground running to his left, got both hands to it, but the ball popped out at the last moment.
LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir was initially clapping thinking that Rahul has taken the catch. However, his reaction changed immediately as the ball wobbled out of the hands.
Patidar and Karthik made the most of the dropped chances as the pair added an unbeaten 92 runs for the fifth wicket.
Chasing a target of 208, LSG were restricted to a total of 193 for six, despite KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda's knocks of 79 and 45, respectively.
RCB will now take on Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 of Friday. The winner of that match will play the final against Gujarat Titans, who had earlier defeated RR in Qualifier 1.