Royal Challengers Bangalore

Patidar produced a knock for the ages, slamming a 49-ball century in powering Royal Challengers Bangalore to a mammoth 207/4 in 20 overs against Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday night. Patidar slammed 12 boundaries and seven sixes for scoring an unbeaten 112 off just 54 balls, taking Lucknow's bowling attack to the cleaners.

Rain and strong winds meant that the toss happened at 7:55pm, with the first ball to be played at 8:10pm. After winning the toss, Rahul said pace all-rounder Dushmantha Chameera and off-spin all-rounder Krunal Pandya come into the playing eleven in place of Jason Holder and K Gowtham. It was an interesting decision at the toss by Rahul as Lucknow have won just twice out of six times while chasing in the tournament.

With high-pressure situations being the norm in the lucrative league, du Plessis, who has played a vital role in the side making the grade in IPL 2022, added that maintaining sanity in the dressing room is something which isn't easy. And with him not reacting to situations, he ensures players are in the right environment and right mental frame to perform their task.

The defeat of Delhi Capitals paved the way for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) into the playoffs along with Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals, and Lucknow Super Giants. Royal Challengers Bangalore star cricketers Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Faf Du Plessis and staff members were seen celebrating wildly in a video shared by the franchise on social media after their team qualified for the IPL 2022 playoffs.

Thanks to Kohli running quick off the blocks and quashing queries over his poor form throughout the tournament, with the crowd firmly cheering for the talismanic batter, Bangalore were able to get a flying start, amassing 55 runs in power-play, with 34 of those coming from Kohli's bat.

"Just getting rid of all the excitement and making sure that we are 100% focused. It's a little bit out of our hands going forward. If we can control what we can control and put in a really good show and hopefully keep ourselves alive in the competition. That's all we can do right now," said Maxwell in a pre-match chat with broadcasters Star Sports.

Both teams are undefeated at this venue hosting its 19th match of the ongoing tournament. The last time these two teams met each other at the Brabourne Stadium, it was on April 30 when Gujarat outclassed Bangalore by six wickets.

Following a long association with RCB (2011-2017), Gayle moved to Punjab Kings in 2018, playing for them till 2021. But the charismatic West Indian batter decided to stay away from the mega auction ahead of the 2022 season, though he has declared his intention to play for either RCB or PBKS in the next season.

Before the match against Royal Challengers on Friday, he had scores of 8, 12, 12, 9, 6, 32, 1, 56 -- his best score coming against Rajasthan Royals. Against RCB, Bairstow came into his own from the first over itself, launching an astounding attack on the bowling that set the tone for the entire PBKS innings.

Kohli and de Villiers shared a great bonding while turning out for RCB for almost a decade before the latter announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in November last year. De Villiers' association with RCB began in 2011 after spending three seasons at Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals).