Ravi Bishnoi of Lucknow Super Giants celebrates the wicket of Jitesh Sharma of Punjab Kings during match 11 of the Indian Premier League season 17 (IPL 2024) between Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings held at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on the 30th March 2024. (Sportzpics)
LSG posted a total of 199/8 thanks to a half century from Quinton de Kock and brisk knocks from Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya, before the bowling unit limited Punjab to 178/5 as debutant pacer Mayank Yadav picked up a three-wicket haul.
Lucknow Super Giants picked up their first win of the IPL 2024 season with a … run triumph over Punjab Kings at the Ekana Sports City in Lucknow on Saturday.
Lucknow put up a total of 199/8 in their 20 overs and managed to limit Punjab to 178/5 to pick up the win.
LSG stand-in skipper Nicholas Pooran won the toss and opted to bat, and revealed that the side were easing KL Rahul into action and promised that the Indian would play as an impact player.
And true to the word, Rahul opened the innings alongside Quinton de Kock. The openers got their side off to a steady start before Rahul fell prey to Arshdeep Singh after having made 15 off 9 deliveries.
Devdutt Padikkal started well but went back to the dugout quickly as he threw his wicket away at 9 off 6 balls. Marcus Stoinis was the new man in and seemed to set in well before launching a couple of sixers off consecutive Rahul Chahar deliveries, however, the spinner outwitted the Aussie with a quicker one that hit timber and sent him back for 19 off 12.
Nicholas Pooran came out to bat and put up a 47-run stand alongside de Kock, who got to his half-century with a four. But, a strategic timeout proved detrimental to the South African’s fortunes as he was dismissed in the first ball after the break.
Pooran took on the onus of scoring as he smashed 42 runs off just 21 deliveries before edging one onto his stumps off Kagiso Rabada’s over.
The responsibility of finishing strong fell to Krunal Pandya, who duly obliged with a swashbuckling innings, while wickets fell in quick succession at the other end. Sam Curran, who had earlier dismissed Padikkal, ended with a three-fer as he got rid of Ayush Badoni and Ravi Bishnoi in subsequent deliveries in the 19th over.
Krunal’s unbeaten 43 off 22 balls helped LSG finish with a score of 199/8 in 20 overs and set the PBKS a 200-run target.
Punjab required a strong start in order to chase down the target and the openers provided just that as Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow got the chase off to a flier. The duo brought up 61 runs in the powerplay and troubled the LSG bowlers at either end.
The pair brought up their 100-run partnership in the 11th over before Mayank Yadav got rid of Bairstow for 42 off 29 deliveries.
Punjab impact player Prabhsimran Singh came out to replace the fallen opener and accompanied his skipper in a 26-run partnership, in which the youngster scored 19, before being dismissed by Yadav.
The debutant pacer picked up his third of the evening with the removal of Jitesh Sharma for 6 off 9 runs as Naveen-ul-Haq pulled off a brilliant catch.
Dhawan was next to go as he fell to Mohsin Khan after making 80 off 50 deliveries. Englishman Curran came out to bat in hopes of settling the crumbling Punjab batting order but was sent back for a golden duck by Mohsin.
Liam Livingstone and Shashank Singh remained unbeaten at 28 and 9, but the side from Punjab couldn’t get past the finish line as they were restricted to 178/5 in their 20 overs by the Lucknow bowling unit spearheaded by their pacers.