LSG defeated PBKS in their IPL 2024 match© BCCI
Lucknow Super Giants decided to use KL Rahul as a specialist batsman in their IPL 2024 match against Punjab Kings on Friday and replaced him with fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq as the Impact Substitute. LSG started the match with Quinton De Kock, Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis as their foreign players and as a result, the decision to use the Afghan cricketer as an Impact Sub was well within IPL rules. However, the substitution took place during the LSG innings, with Naveen coming to bat at number 9. The match officials found themselves in a situation that exposed a loophole in the IPL rules.
Rahul came to bat as the opening batsman and scored 15 runs in 9 runs before he was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh. Naveen replaced him in the playing XI and came to bat at number 9, but that effectively left LSG with 12 eligible batters in their line-up. Mayank Yadav and M Siddharth were still in the batting line-up with two wickets to spare and the IPL rulebook does not have any provision for this kind of situation.
Although LSG lost only 8 wickets, things could have been trickier for the officials if the franchise had lost 2 more wickets before the end of the innings.
As for the match, young bowler Mayank Yadav picked up three wickets while Mohsin Khan took two as Lucknow Super Giants defeated Punjab Kings by 21 runs despite the century partnership of openers Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow on Saturday.
Chasing a difficult target of 200 runs for victory after LSG made 199/8, Shikhar hit a 50-ball 70, while Bairstow was equally combative in his 29-ball 42 as the duo collected 102 runs for the opening wicket.
But Mayank struck when things started to look bleak for LSG, dismissing Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma to return figures of 3/27. Mohsin scored 2/34 as PBKS could only manage 178/5 in their 20 overs.
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock (54), stand-in skipper Nicholas Pooran (42) and Krunal Pandya (43) played some big shots as the hosts made a strong bid to win on their home field.
Sam Curran emerged as the most successful PBKS bowler, taking three wickets for 28 runs.
(With PTI inputs)
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