India have unearthed a new fast bowling star in Mayank Yadav (27/3), who stole the spotlight with his scorching pace amid the usual flurry of monstrous hits as Lucknow Super Giants defeated Punjab Kings by 21 runs here on Saturday humiliated in the IPL.
Asked to bat first, driver Krunal Pandya’s late blitz took LSG to a competitive 199/8.
Opener Quinton de Kock top-scored for LSG with a 38-ball 54, but it was stand-in skipper Nicholas Pooran’s 21-ball 42 that breathed life into his team’s innings in the middle overs.
On the back of two sixes and four boundaries, Krunal then scored at a strike rate of 200 to end on a 22-ball 43 and give his side extra cushion.
That total proved enough for LSG, who registered their first win of this IPL thanks to Mayank’s heroics. Punjab, who finished at 178/5, missed the service of Liam Livingstone as he was injured.
In the 12th over of Punjab’s innings, Mayank bowled the fastest ball of the tournament at a speed of 155.8 km per hour.
It was Mayank’s extra pace that upset Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma and led to their demise. He consistently clocked 150 and more on the speedometer during his four-overtime period and emerged as the hero of the night.
This was after the dashing opening combination of Shikhar Dhawan (70 off 50 balls) and Bairstow (42 off 29 balls) quickly took the measure of what looked like a very good surface to bat on, with both getting a couple of boundaries to keep the ball going. get roles.
PBKS skipper Dhawan made a statement of sorts when he reverse swept M Siddharth over the backward point.
Their attacking approach saw PBKS race to 61 without loss in the power game and continued in the same vein with Dhawan bringing up his fifty with a maximum off Ravi Bishnoi.
Bairstow was equally marauding, hitting Krunal Pandya for two successive sixes as the visitors crossed 100 in the 11th over.
Bishnoi curbed PBKS’ scoring with a tight 11th over, conceding just three runs, and that forced Bairstow to chase Mayank, but the batsman made a mistake and ended up throwing away his wicket. It was the fast bowler’s first IPL wicket.
Prabhsimran blasted away to a seven-ball 19 before becoming Mayank’s second victim.
Dhawan tried his level best to keep his team in the match but PBKS could not keep up with the demand pace and soon the Punjab captain also succumbed to the pressure and Jitesh failed to handle Mayank’s extra pace.
Earlier, De Kock got the LSG innings going with a beautiful drive through mid-off for a boundary.
KL Rahul played the game as an ‘impact player’ after handing over the leadership responsibility to Nicholas Pooran. KL Rahul looked unconvincing as he tried to tap Kagiso Rabada behind square leg side.
The diving Harshal Patel came in from deep and made a valiant effort to hold on to the ball but Rahul was lucky as the fielder couldn’t score what would have been a blinder.
At the other end, De Kock was in his element as he knocked Rabada over with a four in the first delivery he faced from the South African speedster.
Next ball, De Kock did even better as he opened the face of the bat to hit Rabada over the backward point boundary for a six.
Rahul drove Arshdeep Singh into the ground for the maximum and then smashed another delivery in the same manner but that gave him a four.
However, Arshdeep exacted revenge when the left-arm seamer had the LSG batsman caught at backward point by Jonny Bairstow for a nine-ball 15.
Devdutt Padikkal got two boundaries before being dismissed by Sam Curran (28/3).
Marcus Stoinis (19) hit two sixes before being bowled by Rahul Chahar as he looked to hoick the spinner onside.
That brought Pooran into the middle and the West Indian soon got into the groove, hitting Chahar with two sixes and a four for a 20-run over, giving LSG’s run rate a much-needed boost.
Meanwhile, De Kock brought up his half-century off 34 balls but a strategic timeout broke LSG’s momentum as the left-handed South African batsman edged a short Arshdeep delivery for wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma to take an easy catch to complete.
Pooran kept the scoreboard moving at a good pace until he dragged a Rabada delivery onto the stumps, a big blow for LSG at a crucial moment.
New man Krunal Pandya wasted no time in establishing himself and brilliantly sent a short Rabada delivery over Midwicket for a maximum. Curran bowled a tight 17th over to stop LSG’s attack but Krunal got a series of boundaries to support LSG.
(With PTI inputs)
Topics mentioned in this article