Playing his 100th game in the IPL, captain KL Rahul led the Lucknow Super Giants to yet another win, this time against the Mumbai Indians. Rahul marked the evening with a sublime century while young fast bowler Avesh Khan picked 3 wickets to derail Mumbai’s efforts in the chase. MI fell 18 runs short and remain at the bottom of the points table.
Mumbai Indians have now lost their first six games in the IPL this season and are going through what is the worst start for them to a season for the franchise.
Batting first, the Lucknow Super Giants got off to a brisk start with KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock making good use of the powerplay. The experienced openers went along at good clip, scoring at about 10 runs an over, playing some exquisite shots around the ground.
De Kock brought up the 50 for LSG in the sixth over with a six but squandered a start when he was trapped LBW by Fabian Allen for 24 of 13 balls. Captain Rahul at the other end was going along in his merry way, setting up to bat through the innings, and was joined by Manish Pandey.
While Rahul held strong at one end and kept finding the fence at regular intervals, Pandey started quickly and crucially kept the momentum going, as both batters ran hard between the wickets.
Pandey smashed six boundaries, keeping up the momentum from de Kock’s cameo, in his 29-ball stay for 38, putting a brisk 72-run stand with Rahul, laying the platform for a strong finish. Pandey was knocked over by Murugan Ashwin in the 14th over. Rahul meanwhile got to his fifty in the 12th over and the cut loose and was particularly harsh on Allen.
Marcus Stoinis had a blazing start but right after the time out was dismissed by Jaydev Unadkat for 10 of 9 balls, leaving LSG 3 down. However, Mumbai’s fielding continued to hurt them, allowing Rahul to march on towards his century.
Rahul made batting look simple for most of the day, but did not get the number of boundaries he’d have liked in the final phase, as the wicket of Stoinis slowed them down a tad bit. Deepak Hooda at the other end decided to take on Tymal Mills in the 19th over, pushing LSG towards to 200. In the same over, which costed Mills 22 runs, Rahul smashed him for a couple of boundaries, the second of which saw him complete his century.
Hooda was dismissed in the final over for 15 from 8 balls when Unadkat struck during a fine 4-run over. LSG finished with 199.
In response, the out of sorts Mumbai Indians had a bad start as Rohit Sharma departed cheaply, caught behind by de Kock for 6 off Avesh Khan. At the other end, Ishan Kishan too was finding it tough to get going, however young Dewald Brevis had no such problems.
Brevis walked in and picked off from where he had left it last time, hammering the bowlers to all parts of the ground during his short stay. Brevis batted for 13 deliveries and hit 6 boundaries and a six, scoring 31 quick runs.
Though Mumbai would have wanted Brevis to bat on, Avesh though had other ideas and sent the young South African packing first. Off the next over, Kishan saw his woodwork disturbed for 13 off a 17 by Stoinis, leaving Mumbai in a spot of bother.
With their backs to the wall, MI turned to middle order batters Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma, to steady the ship. The duo batted well, keeping it solid and also picking off the boundaries. The duo had hit five boundaries between themselves on their way to the fifty-run stand milestone. Just as the duo looked to set to launch into the final overs, Lucknow struck back.
Jason Holder was brought back and he cleaned up Verma for 26 of as many deliveries. Suryakumar was now joined by the dangerous Kieron Pollard, with MI needing 75 off the last 5 overs.
The big guns though would not be able to lead the fight with Yadav becoming Ravi Bishnoi’s first wicket, when he was caught at deep square for 37 of 27. Pollard though decided to take charge, smashing Dushmantha Chameera for a couple of sixes to release some pressure with a 16-run over.
The steam in the Mumbai efforts started to peter out soon though, as Avesh struck again, removing Allen for 8. In the final 2 overs, Mumbai needed 43 and had Pollard still in the middle.
Pollard and Unadkat picked off 17 from Holder final over, with the Indian batter smashing a six as well. But as soon as the final over started, Unadkat (14) was run out as there was a bit of miscommunication between the batters. MI scored 7 off the final over and fell short by 18 runs and lost their sixth straight game.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)