Mohali, Apr 29 (UNI) Lucknow Super Giantspiled on 257/5, the second-highest team totalin the history of IPL, against Punjab Kings through a brilliant team effort.
Marcus Stoinis (72 off 40), Kyle Mayers (54off 24), Nicholas Pooran (45 off 19) andAyush Badoni (43 off 24) contributed at abrisk pace collectively. Lucknow’s innings, included 41 boundaries (27 fours and 14sixes).
A clinical bowling effort by the team then saw Lucknow win with a margin of 56 runs. The win took them to second place courtesy of a positive net run rate of 0.841.
Only Rajasthan Royals have a better run rate than Lucknow in the IPL and lead the points table with the same number of points.
Taking on Arshdeep Singh, Punjab Kings’ premier fast bowler, and hitting him for four boundaries in his first over helped Super Giants set the tempo to put on the mammoth score.
Kyle Mayers was dismissed in the sixth over but did his job by scoring at a strike rate of 225. His24-ball 54 was laced with seven fours and four maximums.
While Mayers nullified the threat of Arshdeep Singh, Ayush Badoni, who came in one down, pulled off the same feat against Rahul Chahar, the lead spinner for the Punjab Kings.
Badoni hit a lofted drive on the off on Chahar’s first ball in the seventh over for a boundary. Gurnoor Brar bowled the next over and was treated in the same manner by Badoni.
Badoni stayed in the middle till the 14th over and played second fiddle to destructive Marcus Stoinis.
Super Giants shuffled their batting order on Friday and it turned out to be a masterstroke! After a 90-run partnership with Badoni for the third wicket, Stoinis combined with Nicholas Pooran for a 76-run stand which came in just 29 balls.
While Stoinis made 72 off 40 by hitting six fours and five sixes, Pooran was even more destructive by scoring 45 off 19. Pooran hit just one six in his innings but laced it with seven fours.
Naveen Ul Haq’s four overs gave away just 30 runs and got the wickets of opener Prabhsimran Singh, a dangerous Sam Curran and later Kagiso Rabada. He has played three matches and has bowled 12 overs at an economy of under six. With Mark Wood unavailable for matches later in the IPL, Lucknow seem to have found a perfect replacement.
Yash Thakur (4/35 in 3.5 overs), Ravi Bishnoi (2/41 in 4 overs) and Marcus Stoinis (1/21 in 1.5overs) were also among wickets.
Chasing a mammoth total, Punjab suffered an early blow as their captain Shikhar Dhawan departed in the first over of the chase.
Atharva Taide joined Prabhsimran in the middle. The duo played some scintillating shots to add28 runs for the second wicket. But, Prabhsimran had to walk back courtesy of Naveen-ul-Haq.
After losing two early wickets, Taide and Sikandar Raza steadied the ship as they counter-attacked the Lucknow bowlers to keep us in the hunt. Punjab swashbuckling batsmen established a 50-run stand off from 29 balls.
Taide continued his dazzling knock as the southpaw notched up his first IPL fifty off just 26balls. His innings included eight fours and two sixes.
Despite putting their best foot forward, we lost Taide (66) and Raza (36) in quick succession. Batting at No.5, Livingstone clobbered two fours and one maximum before departing for a 14-ball 23.
With the required run rate mounting with each over, Punjab middle-order batsmen, Jitesh Sharma (24) and Sam Curran (24) played eye-catching cameos.
Curan, in the process, completed 500 runs in the IPL.
Unfortunately, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals in the final few overs to suffer a 56-runloss.
Lucknow will head back home and prepare for a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 1.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 257/5 (Marcus Stoinis 72, Kyle Mayers 54, Nicholas Pooran45, Ayush Badoni 43, Kagiso Rabada 2/52) beat Punjab Kings 201 (Atharva Taide 66, YashThakur 4/37, Naveen Ul Haq 3/30, Ravi Bishnoi 2/41) by 56 runs.
