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Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) won a last-over thriller against Delhi Capitals (DC) to register their third win of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Ayush Badoni finished the run chase in style after Quinton de Kock’s match-winning 80 in the low-scoring game. The six-wicket win helped LSG move to the second post on the points table.
De Kock leads run chase
Chasing 150, LSG openers got off to a decent start. The wicketkeeper-batter looked more settled as he hit his South African teammate Anrich Nortje for 19 runs in an over. After the powerplay overs, Rahul struggled to shift gears. In the 10th over, he went for a big shot off Kuldeep Yadav and got caught. He scored 24 runs from 25 deliveries including one four and six each.
Evin Lewis’s struggle against right-arm off-spinners continued as he became victim of Lalit Yadav. Lewis could not hit a single boundary and scored just five runs from 13 deliveries. Meanwhile, De Kock single-handedly led the run chase. Nortje was brought back into the attack but bowled a beamer to De Kock which went for a six. In his third over, he bowled another no ball to Deepak Hooda and was taken off the attack.
Nortje’s exit
Pant was forced to give the ball to Kuldeep in the 16th over as four balls were remaining in Nortje’s over. The spinner went for a couple of boundaries but got the prized wicket of De Kock. The left-handed batter scored 80 runs from 52 deliveries. His match-winning knock included nine fours and two sixes.
Badoni finishes it off
After his wicket, LSG needed 28 runs from 24 deliveries. Mustafizur Rahman and Shardul Thakur bowled one good over each to bring DC back in the game. Hooda and Krunal Pandya struggled tto get boundaries till the penultimate over. Krunal broke the shackles and hit Mustafizur for a maximum. The two ran hard between the wickets as well to get three twos in the over. In the last over, LSG needed just five runs to win. Thakur got a wicket off the first delivery. However, once again, Badoni played the perfect role of finisher. He followed it up with a clean hit over covers for a maximum to finish off the run chase with two balls to spare.
Shaw’s show
After losing the toss, DC got off to a fiery start with Prithvi Shaw hitting boundaries at will. Shaw made full use of the fielding restrictions and spared none of the LSG bowlers. On the other hand, David Warner struggled to rotate the strike. Shaw scored his first half-century of the season. Playing his first game of the season, Krishnappa Gowtham put an end to Shaw's knock. The opener scored 61 runs from 34 deliveries including nine fours and two sixes.
Warner, Powell disappoint
Warner gave his wicket away in the next over. The Aussie’s Delhi return did not turn out to be a good one as he scored just four runs from 12 deliveries. After two quick wickets, the plan to send Rovman Powell at no.3 backfired as LSG spinners were operating in the middle. Powell could manage to score just three runs from 10 deliveries before he got bowled by Ravi Bishnoi.
Lacklustre finish
Skipper Pant struggled to score at the start while Sarfaraz Khan did most of the scoring. Pant accelerated in the 16th over as he hit Andrew Tye for a couple of sixes and one boundary to make up for the dot deliveries. However, LSG tightened the screws in the last three overs. Just one boundary was scored in the last three overs as DC managed to post 149/3. In his first game of the season, Sarfaraz scored 36 runs from 28 deliveries whereas Pant remained unbeaten for 36-ball 39.
