IPL 2022, LSG vs DC Top Performances: KL Rahul’s 77, Deepak Hooda’s 52, Mohsin Khan’s 4-16 and Shardul Thakur’s 3-40 are top performances. LSG move to 2nd place.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 195/3 (Rahul 77, Hooda 52, Thakur 3-40) beat Delhi Capitals 189/7 (Pant 44, Axar 42*, Mohsin 4-16) by six runs
Player of the Match: Mohsin Khan (4-16 in four overs)
Sixth-ranked Delhi capitals (DC) were up against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who were ranked third in the points table, at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday afternoon.
In their last affair in this edition, Lucknow beat Delhi with ease chasing an average total of 149.
LSG captain, KL Rahul, after winning the toss decided to bat first. While they had brought back Krishnappa Gowtham in the absence of Avesh Khan, DC went in with an unchanged playing eleven.
Lucknow held their nerves to seal a last over thriller
Asked to bat first, Lucknow went off to a flier thanks to early wrecking from Quinton de Kock due to which LSG reached 41 in just four overs.
After de Kock fell, new number three batter Deepak Hooda along with captain KL Rahul stitched up a great 95-run partnership in just 61 balls, where both of them registered their respective fifties.
Rahul continued to stretch his purple patch with a 77-run knock, before Marcus Stoinis and Krunal Pandya fired the Super Giants to 195/3 in their 20 overs. It was expected to be good score given how much the old ball was stopping on the pitch.
Delhi didn’t start well as they lost both their openers early and were reduced to 13-2 in three overs. Skipper Rishabh Pant and Mitchell Marsh then put up a quickfire partnership of 60 runs in just 4.1 overs. Delhi were surely in with a glittering chance to move to third place in the points table at this stage but they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals which hurt them in the eventual analysis.
Rovman Powell also tried his bit with 35 but failed to go the distance. Gujarat all-rounder Axar Patel, in the end overs, along with Kuldeep Yadav, cracked some huge hits, but DC finished on the wrong side of the victory post.
Let’s take a look at the top three performances from the game between LSG and DC.
Rahul-Hooda wild partnership laid the platform for a huge LSG score
After a rapid start in a the powerplay, Lucknow lost their opener Quinton de Kock with the score being 42 in 4.2 overs. The consistent problem for LSG has been finding a solid number three in their batting order even as new number three, Deepak Hooda kicked off with a boundary.
In the early part of their partnership, both KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda took a few overs to get their eyes in. Rishabh Pant brought his prime bowler of the season, Kuldeep Yadav, who till now has 17 wickets in IPL 2022. Both batters blasted the chinaman to different parts of the ground. Kuldeep went wicketless and conceded 29 runs in his three overs.
Soon, KL Rahul posted his 29th IPL fifty in 35 balls, before Hooda too joined him in the celebration with his personal half-century in 32 balls. The latter although was dismissed quickly, the former continued to smack the bowlers all around the park. Meanwhile, he completed 400+ runs for the fifth consecutive season in IPL history, besides becoming the quickest Indian to complete 150 sixes in IPL.
Even though, KL Rahul missed a chance to score his third IPL hundred of IPL 2022 being dismissed at 77, the partnership of 95 in 61 balls laid a solid platform for LSG, shouldering on which they put up 195/3 on the board.
Read More: IPL 2022, LSG vs PBKS, Top Performances: Chameera 2-17, Krunal 2-11 suffocate PBKS; LSG at 3
Mohsin Khan murdered Delhi with 4-16
Even though Lucknow were defending 190+, the initial job for the LSG bowlers was to separate the Delhi opening partners, David Warner and Prithvi Shaw, who have been fabulous in providing DC the best possible starts this season.
Mohsin Khan, whom Super Giants bagged for INR 20 lakhs, got rid of fierce David Warner on a personal score of 3, thanks to a superb low catch by Ayush Badoni in the mid-wicket region. Mohsin gave just five runs besides the wicket in two overs in the powerplay.
When Mohsin was called back for a over in the middle stage, he straightaway deceived the opponent captain, Rishabh Pant with a length delivery on a personal score of 44 to diminish the dream of DC to chase down the huge score.
In his last over, Mohsin sent back Rovman Powell with another short of length delivery which Powell didn’t control. In the same over, he added Shardul Thakur in his wicket’s column thanks to an off-cutter angling across to bring curtains on DC’s remaining hopes.
The 23-year-old from Uttar Pradesh finished his spell at 4-16 in his four overs. These are now his best figures in T20 cricket, surpassing his 3-24 against PBKS.
Read More: IPL 2022, DC vs KKR, Top Performances: Kuldeep 4-14, Mustafizur 3-18, Powell’s 33* take DC home
Shardul Thakur was impressive with figures of 3-40 on a belter of a track
On a belter of a track, Lucknow were off to a flier with 41 runs on the board in just four overs. Pant was using all his resources and at last for the fifth over, he threw the ball to Shardul Thakur, who on his very second ball got the better of Quinton de Kock thanks to slower ball off which Lalit Yadav grabbed a good catch; this was the second time de Kock was undone by Thakur in IPL, scoring 44 runs.
Then, he came back in the 15th over to break the 95-run stand between KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda. Thakur dismissed Hooda thanks to an excellent caught and bowled off a superb yorker. This was also the second time Thakur got the better of Hooda in IPL. Although Thakur has been expensive against Hooda as the latter has scored at a strike rate of 160.6 against the former in the world’s marquee league.
Later, he also got the wicket of KL Rahul thanks to a well-judged catch at the fence by Lalit Yadav. This was the second time Rahul was dismissed off Thakur, besides scoring at a strike rate of 187.50 in IPL history.
Thakur’s figures might not paint a great picture, but 3-40 on a belter of a track while bowling tough overs was impressive to say the least.
Read More: IPL 2022, Top Indian Bowlers: Pacers Natarajan, Umran, Khaleel impress besides resurgent ‘Kulcha’
TATA IPL 2022 Points Table
What’s to come
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will meet Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai in the 47th game of IPL 2022 on May 2.
Here are some of the top twitter reactions from LSG vs DC, 45th game, TATA IPL 2022:
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