IPL 2022 | LSG vs MI | Lucknow thump Mumbai by 18 runs to jump to top of table

The Lucknow Super Giants were up against the Mumbai Indians in the 26th fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. 

A blistering knock by the skipper KL Rahul on the special occasion of his 100th IPL saw Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) leap to 199 after being put to bat.

Chasing a daunting target of 200, the Mumbai Indians (MI) had an ordinary start once again. Their out of form skipper Rohit Sharma fell to the exuberant LSG pacer, Avesh Khan, scoring only six off the seven deliveries he faced.

MI’s hopes, though, were raised by the 19-year-old Dewald Brevis as he continued his blistering form. Brevis began his onslaught as soon as he arrived at the crease, scoring 31 off 13 balls before drilling one straight to Deepak Hooda off Avesh Khan. Ishan Kishan soon joined the youngster in the dugout as he dragged one back onto his stumps.

Later, MI’s most bankable batsman this year, Suryakumar Yadav, was accompanied by the young Tilak Varma as they started the rebuilding job while trying to keep the required run rate at bay.

Their partnership added 64 runs before they fell in succeeding overs, leaving a mammoth task behind for the West Indian pair of Kieron Pollard and Fabien Allen.

Pollard managed to smack some massive hits alongside Allen and Jaydev Unadkat as they managed to drag the game into the last over. But it was too little too late for MI, as a desperate second run attempt resulted in Unadkat getting run out. Pollard, too got out on the penultimate delivery of the match as Mumbai Indians faced their sixth loss in a row, losing by 18 runs.

Earlier, the Supergiants were put to bat by Rohit Sharma. The formidable opening pair of KL Rahul and Quinton De Kock started confidently as they scored 46 runs off the first five overs. While Rahul was cautious initially, De Kock made his intentions clear against Unadkat and Murugan Ashwin, hitting a couple of crunching boundaries off both of them.

Mumbai fell short in tactical awareness in the early stage of the innings. In the fourth over of the game, Tymal Mills bowled a couple of short balls to Rahul that were sent out of the boundary by the LSG skipper. Before that, he played at a sedate rate scoring 12 off 15 balls. IPL data shows that Rahul is an excellent player of the short ball, having scored 163 runs off 58 short balls without being dismissed even once.

To not allow the openers to settle, Rohit kept changing bowlers as MI used six different bowlers in the powerplay. The strategy eventually worked as Allen managed to trap De Kock in front of the stumps in the 6th over, as the Proteas batter tried a reverse sweep.

MI’s woes, though, were not over. Plenty of misfields didn’t help their meek bowling as Manish Pandey, and Rahul scored freely against spin and pace. Marcus Stoinis was promoted to Number 4 as the platform was laid down for him by the top order. And he announced his arrival with a monstrous six off his first ball.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul continued his masterful strokeplay from the other end. He reached his century in the 19th over as he caressed a drive in front of the point off Mills. With small contributions from Stoinis, Hooda, and Krunal Pandya, Rahul took his team to a colossal score of 199. However, apart from Jasprit Bumrah and Unadkat, all MI bowlers looked helpless against the quality and class of LSG’s top order.

To most people’s surprise, the two new entrants in this season of IPL, the Gujarat Titans and the Lucknow Supergiants, now occupy the top two positions on the table. 

Brief Scores 

Lucknow Super Giants: 199/4 (20)

KL Rahul 103(60), Manish Pandey 38(29);

Jaydev Unadkat 2/32 (4), Murugan Ashwin 1/33 (4)

Mumbai Indians: 181/9 (20)

Suryakumar Yadav 37(27), Dewald Brevis 31(13);

Avesh Khan 3/30 (4), Marcus Stoinis 1/13 (2)

Lucknow Super Giants win by 18 runs