In the Indian Premier League’s (IPL 2024) 48th game, played at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) defeated the Mumbai Indians (MI) with considerable ease. LSG defeated Mumbai by four wickets after reaching their target of 145 runs in four deliveries with four balls remaining.
After choosing to bat first, the Mumbai Indians had trouble getting into a groove the entire inning. Mumbai could only muster 144/7 in 20 overs, despite a valiant 46 runs from Nehal Wadhera and a late burst from Tim David, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 18 balls. With two and one wickets taken, respectively, Mohsin Khan and Mayank Yadav distinguished themselves for LSG.
Also read: IPL 2024: Mumbai Indians’ 1st inning Highlights against Lucknow Super Giants in Match 48
LSG’s response saw a rough outing as they lost a number of wickets early on, including their leader, KL Rahul. Marcus Stoinis, though, led the inning with an incredible 62 off 45 balls. Deepak Hooda and Nicholas Pooran made significant contributions that helped LSG win. In the penultimate over, LSG finished at 145/6 after reaching the target despite significant opposition from Mumbai’s bowlers.
Losing skipper Hardik Pandya said:
I think losing early wickets is tough to recover from and that’s what we couldn’t do it (recover) today. You still have to see the ball and hit. We just missed those balls and got out, that has been the kind of season we have had so far. I have always believed that you will be up and you’ll be up, just that you got to give it your all. A lot of things to learn from this game. It has been fantastic. I think he (Wadhera) did last year as well, he couldn’t get opportunities earlier (in the tournament) but he will play a lot of IPL and (represent) India eventually.
Winning skipper KL Rahul said:
We still had batters in the middle. An experienced batter in Pooran and KP is seasoned as well. Was a bit dry. 165-170 would have made it a competitive game. It takes time to adjust to this wicket. Our bowlers did well and put pressure on them. Always happy when you get those two points. We need to gain momentum in the back end of the tournament and the momentum helps.
I haven’t spoken to Mayank much. He had some pain in his sides. He said thoda dukh raha hai. So, I asked him to go out. He is useful for us. We need to take care of him. He bowled wide yorkers and slower bumpers today which was good to see. We are giving him a free hand.
POTM Marcus Stoinis said:
I have had the nickname (Hulk) longer compared to Tim David. Nice to bowl with the new ball. Nice role. I didn’t expect to bowl three in the powerplay. Thought the wicket was okay. We could have pushed the envelope and scored faster. But it is a little tricky. It was a dragged down delivery which I got out to. It stuck a little. Was disappointing to get out. Look I have been here, this is my third year. I have built close bonds with the franchise here. Everything is good here.