IPL 2022 | Rahul's Majestic ton and all-round bowling effort helps LSG beat MI

A majestic hundred from KL Rahul and an all-around bowling effort have consigned the Mumbai Indians to their 8th consecutive season defeat as Lucknow Super Giants successfully defended 169 at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

Defending 169, the Lucknow Super Giants didn't get off to the best possible start as the opening duo of Mumbai Indians added 43 runs in the power-play.

MI were able to get to 43/0 despite a painstaking 19-ball 8 from Ishan Kishan.

Ravi Bishnoi ended Kishan's torture at the crease on the first delivery of his spell in the 7th over.

The dismissal of Kishan paved the way for an epic collapse that saw Mumbai go from 49/1 to 67/4 within a span of two overs, with Rohit (39 off 31 deliveries), Suryakumar Yadav (7 off 7 deliveries) and Dewald Brevis (3 off 5 deliveries) all back in the pavilion.

While Badoni dismissed SKY, Krunal Pandya and Mohsin Khan knocked over Rohit and Brevis during the middle-overs.

On a surface where the ball was gripping into the surface, the likes of Jason Holder, Dushamantha Chameera and Krunal Pandya bowled well. However, while Tilak Varma (38 off 27 deliveries) and Kieron Pollard (19 off 20 deliveries) did try their best, the bridge proved to be a bit too far for the former champions to scale.

Majestic ton from KL Rahul led Lucknow Super Giants to 168/6

Earlier, skipper KL Rahul's brilliant unbeaten hundred (103* off 62 deliveries) spearheaded Lucknow Super Giants after being inserted into bat by Rohit Sharma.

It was a lacklustre batting display from Lucknow where their batters barring KL, looked either hurried by pace or were undone by pace off the surface.

Quinton de Kock's underwhelming season continued as he failed to make the most of his reprieve via an easy catch drop by Tilak Varma off Jasprit Bumrah's bowling in the 4th over.

De Kock (10 off 9 deliveries) was dismissed on the very next delivery post that drop as he mistimed an attempted drive, only for Rohit Sharma to complete the catch.

Manish Pandey looked hurried against pace and clueless against the spin during his run-a-ball 22 before Kieron Pollard ended his painful stay.

Marcus Stoinis and Krunal Pandya holed out at 0 & 1, respectively, in an attempt to clobber an attempted slower delivery from Meredith and Pollard.

Deepak Hooda (10 off 9 deliveries) and Ayush Badoni (14 off 9 deliveries) did chip in with some crucial runs in the end, but the fact that LSG even managed to get 168 was largely due to another stylish knock from Rahul.

The champion opener looked like he was batting on a different surface than the rest as he brought up his second hundred of the season, and he brought that up with a six off Meredith in the final over. He finished with 103*; an innings glittered with 12 fours and 4 sixes.

Brief Scores:

Lucknow Super Giants 168/6 (20)

KL Rahul 103* (62)

Kieron Pollard 2-8 (2)

Mumbai Indians 132/8 (20)

Rohit Sharma 39 (31)

Tilak Varma 38 (27)

Krunal Pandya 3/19 (4)

Mohsin Khan 1/27 (4)

Jason Holder 1/36 (4)

Lucknow Super Giants won by 36 runs