The bowling display from the Lucknow Super Giants limited the five-time champions Mumbai Indians to just 191 runs, leading to a 12-run victory for the host team at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Pursuing an enormous target of 203 runs, the Mumbai side had a slow beginning as they lost their initial two wickets within just ten deliveries during the second inning. Initially, Will Jacks scored only 5 runs off 7 balls before being dismissed; at this point, the team’s score stood at 11. Shortly after, Ryan Rickleton made 10 runs from 5 balls but also ended up getting out when the score reached 17.
During the pursuit, Suryakumar Yadav (scoring 67 runs from 43 deliveries) and Naman Dhir (accumulating 46 runs off 24 balls) led the run-getting charts for the team based in Mumbai.
The team captain Hardik Pandya (scoring 28 runs off 16 deliveries) and left-handed batsman Tilak Varma (contributing 25 runs in 23 balls) managed to pile up significant scores for their squad; however, these efforts fell short as they ended up losing the match by 12 runs.
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During the 19th over, Tilak got retired out following an innings that saw him score 25 runs, aided by two boundaries. At this point, the team required 24 more runs from just seven deliveries left.
In the final over delivered by right-handed fast bowler Avesh Khan, the team captained by Hardik Pandya required 22 runs to win. Despite giving away a six on the opening delivery of the 20th over, Avesh allowed just nine runs from his total of six deliveries.
In the match led by Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur (1/40), Akash Deep (1/46), Avesh Khan (1/40), and Digvesh Rathi (1/21) claimed one wicket each during their individual spells of four overs apiece.
In the earlier part of the game, Pandya secured the win during the coin toss and decided to have his team bowl first. However, MI’s bowling lineup faced immediate strain when Marsh and Markram provided LSG with a rapid kickoff. This duo achieved a fifty-run milestone within just 5.1 overs and pushed their score up to 69 by the conclusion of the power play period.
Mitchell Marsh took charge as an aggressive force, scoring 60 runs from just 31 deliveries, featuring nine boundaries and two sixes. He concluded his knock after being caught and bowled by Vignesh Puthur following their collaborative effort of putting together a 76-run partnership at the start, alongside Markram.
Nicholas Pooran, who has been performing exceptionally well this season, failed to leave his mark and was bowled out by Hardik for just 12 runs. LSG’s skipper Rishabh Pant's batting woes persisted as he was sent off by Pandya for only 2 runs, putting LSG at 107/3 in 10.4 overs.
Aiden Markram continued to anchor the innings and found a reliable partner in Ayush Badoni, who chipped in with a quick 30 off 19 balls before being dismissed by Ashwani Kumar. Markram went on to score a composed 53 off 38 deliveries, hitting two fours and four sixes.
David Miller contributed vital late scores with a swift 27 but was caught out by Pandya, who subsequently achieved his fifth wicket by bowling Akash Deep for a duck.
Pandya came back with bowling stats of 5/36 from his four overs, keeping Mumbai Indians competitive. The remaining wickets were taken by Vignesh Puthur, Ashwini Kumar, and Trent Boult.
Summary of the match: The Lucknow Super Giants scored 203/8 with contributions from Mitchell Marsh who made 60 runs and Aiden Markram scoring 53 runs, while Hardik Pandya took 5 wickets for 36 runs. In response, the Mumbai Indians managed to reach 191/5 thanks to Suryakumar Yadav’s 67 runs and Naman Dhir’s 46 runs, but were restricted by Digvesh Rathi taking one wicket for just 21 runs.
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