IPL 2023: 'My Role Is To Play Impactful Innings,' Explains RCB's Mahipal Lomror

Lomror joined RCB in 2022 and on Saturday finally got the opportunity to come good with the bat albeit in a losing cause.

Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder Mahipal Lomror had a good time with the bat through his audacious 29-ball 54 against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

Lomror joined the franchise in 2022 and on Saturday finally got the opportunity to come good with the bat albeit in a losing cause. His knock was laced with three maximums and nine boundaries. Head Coach Sanjay Bangar said Lomror was certainly the highlight of the match which ended in a seven-wicket defeat for them.

"There were a lot of positives to take from our last match in Delhi, especially in the batting department. Mahipal Lomror coming good with the bat was probably the highlight of the match. We showed great consistency in the batting department," Bangar was quoted as saying by the franchise in a release.

Lomror stated that his job in the Bangalore batting line-up coming after talismanic batters Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell is to disrupt the opposition`s bowling plans. "My job was to try to score a boundary in every over. To put opposition bowlers under pressure I took some risks and it paid off. I love playing on slow wickets because I get to play on the backfoot where I am quite strong."

Fifty for Mahipal Lomror.

RCB was struggling, innings wasn't going anywhere and then Lomror smashed fifty from just 26 balls - What a knock it has been. pic.twitter.com/sHvgnqWwRV — Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 6, 2023

"As per my role, it`s rare to score 50 or big runs. My role is to go down and disrupt the opposition`s bowling. It`s a high-risk game so am not expected to play long innings. My job is to play impactful innings and cameos."

Kohli and Lomror's gameplan while batting

Asked about what was his role when Kohli was batting from the other end, Lomror remarked, "When I was batting with Virat, the game plan was simple. His role was to bat deep, and my job was to score a couple of boundaries in every over. When Kuldeep Yadav was bowling, it was turning a bit."

"It was important to put some pressure on him, so I took some risks, and it paid off. When we were batting, we were aiming for 170 because the wicket was spinning, and it was slow as well. We felt it was a good score. If our bowling was a bit tighter, this would have been a very good score."

Bangalore`s next match in IPL 2023 will be against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.