IPL 2022: Bowlers the Super Giants for Lucknow

Cricket
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Profit from poor Punjab Kings batting despite a middle-overs collapse leaving them short of a big total.

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Shared News: April 30, 2022 7:01:08 am
LSG defeat PBKS by 20 runs. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia / Sportzpics for IPL)

At 92/5, it fell on ginger-haired Bradford boy Jonny Bairstow to take his team, Punjab Kings, over the line. Lucknow Super Giants had scored 153/8, but the pitch was a bit tacky and their bowlers, especially Krunal Pandya and Dushmantha Chameera, stood up to be counted. Both teams dished out pretty average batting performances, refusing to grab the game by the lapels. Bairstow was Punjab’s last hope but he flattered to deceive, as his team limped to 133/8 to lose by 20 runs. As their captain Mayank Agarwal said, “too many soft dismissals” derailed their chase.

Krunal stars

Liam Livingstone’s wicket was the turning point of the game. Lucknow had employed the spin-choke, through Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal, but Livingstone took the attack to the former and broke the shackles with an 18-run over. Then, he became a prisoner of his overconfidence. Shuffling across to a Mohsin Khan delivery and attempting a cheeky flick cost him his wicket.

As Punjab faltered in their chase, Krunal was the real star for Lucknow. His miserly bowling built pressure, apart from accounting for Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Jitesh Sharma. The impressive Mohsin was Lucknow’s most successful bowler with 3/24. But the medium pacer benefited from the pressure created by Krunal’s 2/11 in his four overs. Chameera (2/17), too, was excellent. Together, they offset their side’s middle-overs muddle.

“I thought we didn’t quite have the total we wanted to, but the guys bowled really well and somehow our bowlers got it done for us tonight. We have to thank them,” wicketkeeper-opener Quinton de Kock nailed it at the post-match presentation.

Middle-overs muddle

In the end, De Kock’s 37-ball 46 proved to be immensely vital. In fact, he was the top scorer in this game. This hasn’t been a very productive IPL for de Kock, bar a couple of fifties. It takes time for any player to settle down in a new franchise. On Friday, he looked determined to take his knock deep, until a Sandeep Sharma delivery kissed the outside edge and the left-hander walked despite the on-field umpire negating the caught-behind appeal. Such sportsmanship is at a premium in modern-day cricket and de Kock set a fine example.

The IPL has entered mid-season and the pitches are getting tired and sluggish, especially in this extreme heat. It’s no longer a 200-plus game and partnership batting is gaining importance. Lucknow’s batting is a bit top-heavy, a tad over-reliant on their two openers. De Kock, a couple of reprieves notwithstanding, was building a partnership with Deepak Hooda, playing smart cricket and picking the right deliveries to hit. The two added 85 runs for the second wicket, but once de Kock was out, his team was caught in a middle-overs muddle.

Hooda was run out at the non-striker’s end by a superb throw from Bairstow. Krunal holed out to long-on, trying to hoick Rabada, when common sense batting was the need of the hour. Ayush Badoni played an even poorer shot in the same over and fell prey to an excellent catch from Livingstone. Going ahead, the youngster will learn that a whip-flick is a low-percentage shot against a bowler of Rabada’s quality, and more so for a batsman of Badoni’s height. Suddenly, from 98/1 in the 13th over, Lucknow slipped to 109/5 at the end of 15th. It quickly became 111/6 following Marcus Stoinis’ dismissal – caught and bowled Rahul Chahar.

Lucknow were playing an extra bowler in this game, Avesh Khan coming in for Manish Pandey. At the toss, KL Rahul rued Jason Holder’s lack of batting time and hoped that at No. 7, the all-rounder would have some opportunity to make an impact. Of course, the Lucknow skipper didn’t foresee a collapse that would have Holder as the last recognised batsman standing when the death overs arrived. The latter hit a towering six off Chahar but was taken at deep cover next ball.

Chameera swung for fun and hit two consecutive sixes against Rabada. But he played one big shot too many and became the fast bowler’s fourth victim; 4/38. Still, those lower-order runs turned out to be hugely important for Lucknow.

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