Lucknow, May 2 - Josh Hazlewood and Karn Sharma picked two wickets each in a superb bowling performance as Royal Challengers Bangalore defended a modest 126 and beat Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday. SCORECARD

Apart from the duo, Mohammed Siraj, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel took a wicket each to bowl out Bangalore for 108 in 19.5 overs. The win has also taken Bangalore to ten points and fifth place due to the net run rate, while Lucknow have slipped to third place but still have ten points.

Bangalore had an early breakthrough on the second ball of their defence as Kyle Mayers pulled straight to mid-on against Siraj. Krunal Pandya injects some momentum by hitting Siraj for three successive fours in the third over.

But Krunal fell in the next over, chipping a wide of the crease delivery from Maxwell towards long-off. Ayush Badoni, opening in place of an injured KL Rahul, went for a lofted drive, but it went straight to a leaping extra cover.

Hasaranga was next to enter the wickets column, drawing Deepak Hooda out of the crease with a googly, beating him on the inside edge, and was stumped. Karn joined the wicket-taking list as Nicholas Pooran miscued a heave to deep square leg.

K. Gowtham hit Karn for a six and four and followed it up with another six down the ground off Hasaranga. But Bangalore hit back as Marcus Stoinis sliced high in the air to long-off and Gowtham was run-out while going for a risky second run.

Ravi Bishnoi was dropped by point but was then run out on the same delivery while going for a second run. Amit Mishra and Naveen-ul-Haq hung around before the latter nicked behind off Hazlewood. With Lucknow needing 24 runs off the last eight balls, Rahul surprisingly came out to bat.

But he couldn't make a run off three deliveries he faced, including off a no-ball, as Mishra miscued a loft to keeper off Patel, giving Bangalore a welcome victory.

Brief scores: 

Royal Challengers Bangalore 126/9 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 44, Virat Kohli 31; Naveen-ul-Haq 3-30, Ravi Bishnoi 2-21) beat Lucknow Super Giants 108 all out in 19.5 overs (K. Gowtham 23, Amit Mishra 19; Josh Hazlewood 2-15, Karn Sharma 2-20) by 18 runs

IANS