Captain K.L. Rahul’s seventh fifty-plus score in his last 10 matches at the Wankhede Stadium and Mohsin Khan’s impressive four-wicket haul helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) do the double over Delhi Capitals (DC) with a six-run win in an Indian Premier League match on Sunday.
Rahul (77, 51b, 4x4, 5x6), opting to bat on a new track on a humid afternoon, opened alongside Quinton de Kock. The South Africa wicketkeeper-batter got Super Giants off to a brisk start, but fell to an off-cutter from Shardul Thakur within the PowerPlay.
In at No. 3, Deepak Hooda (52, 34b, 6x4, 1x6) was quick to get off the blocks, and alongside Rahul made good use of the smaller boundaries. Capitals finished with their worst bowling PowerPlay this season, conceding 57 runs.
Huge six
With Rahul’s humongous maximum that bounced off the tarps underneath the Sachin Tendulkar stand, the fifty-run partnership for the second wicket came off just 33 balls. The two also brought up their individual fifties in back-to-back overs shortly after.
After Shardul got rid of Hooda, Lalit Yadav, having dropped Rahul on 15 and Stoinis on 7, atoned for his sins by holding on to a blinder to see the back of the LSG captain.
Although Marcus Stoinis and Krunal Pandya struggled, a six off the Aussie’s blade in the final over took LSG to a respectable 195/3.
Early setbacks
In reply, DC suffered early setbacks, losing openers Prithvi Shaw and David Warner cheaply.
However, Rishabh Pant (44, 30b, 7x4, 1x6), joining Mitchell Marsh (37, 20b, 3x4, 3x6) at the crease, seemed unperturbed. The two forged a fifty-run partnership off just 16 deliveries.
Things, however, started going downhill after Marsh was dismissed. Adjudged caught behind, the Australia all-rounder decided to walk. However, the UltraEdge showed no spike.
Ravi Bishnoi’s googly turned square to deceive Lalit an over later. With Rovman Powell (35, 21b, 3x4, 2x6) beginning to switch gears in the 12th over, Rahul brought on Mohsin Khan to deliver the death blow. Mohsin’s military medium-pace proved enough to take down Pant, Powell and Shardul in the final two overs of his spell.
Stoinis, summoned to bowl the final over, defended 21 runs, having survived an initial scare when Kuldeep Yadav tonked him over square-leg off the very first ball.
