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Stoinis powers Lucknow to victory over Mumbai

cricket30 April 2024 18:24| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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The Lucknow Super Giants secured a vital victory when they beat the Mumbai Indians by four wickets with three balls to spare in their Tata IPL match at Lucknow on Tuesday.

 

Lucknow move up to third in the table with 12 points, but Mumbai received a heavy blow to their playoff hopes as they remain in ninth spot on six points.

Set to make 145 for victory, Lucknow made heavy weather of a modest target but finally managed it largely through a superb 62 in 45 balls by Marcus Stoinis.

Stoinis came to the crease in the first over when impact batter Arshim Kulkarni was trapped leg before first ball by Nuwan Thushara.

It was hard going for the home team early on as they struggled to 11 for one off the first three overs delivered by Thushara and the incomparable Jasprit Bumrah.

But when Bumrah was removed from the attack after just one over, Stoinis and KL Rahul built momentum with 15 runs off the opening over of Gerald Coetzee.

The pair went on to add 58 for the second wicket before Rahul was brilliantly caught on the midwicket boundary by Mohammad Nabi who showed great balance to clutch the ball centimetres inside the rope.

Stoinis was playing a calculated hand in the run chase as he and Deepak Hooda added another 40 before Hooda hacked across the line against Hardik Pandya and lofted a simple catch to Bumrah at mid-off.

And when Stoinis mistimed a pull off Nabi to be caught on the midwicket boundary in an innings that included seven fours and two sixes, and then Ashton Turner was bowled by Coetzee, Lucknow suddenly faced some late pressure.

Nicholas Pooran was fortunate to edge a couple of wild slogs for four and in the end it was easy for Lucknow as they needed just three off the final over.

Once again Bumrah excelled in a losing cause, conceding just 17 off his four overs.

MUMBAI STRUGGLE

Earlier, Mumbai crawled to their lowest power-play total of the competition, 28 for the loss of four wickets after being put in to bat by Lucknow, and it was only contributions from Ishan Kishan (32 in 36 balls), Nehal Wadhera (46 off 41 balls) and finally a sparkling cameo from Tim David (35 off 18 balls) that enabled Mumbai to reach their total.

On a surface slower than usual in this competition, with the ball holding in the pitch, the Lucknow bowlers bowled with good craft, varying their pace and angles to frustrate the Mumbai batters.

They got off to the perfect start when paceman Mohsin Khan had kingpin Rohit Sharma caught by Stoinis at cover when driving too early.

Dangerman Suryakumar Yadav struck a six off Stoinis before gloving a delivery to keeper KL Rahul, the decision going to a review.

Tilak Varma, coming off two consecutive fifties, was then carelessly run out before skipper Pandya edged a drive off his first ball from Naveen-ul-Haq.

Kishan and Wadhera began a recovery with a fifth-wicket partnership of 53 in 55 balls before Kishan top-edged a sweep to Mayank Yadav at short third-man.

Yadav, the 21-year-old speedster coming back from injury, again bowled with good pace, bowling Mohammad Nabi before retiring apparently injured again after bowling 3.1 overs, although he left the field without limping.

Mumbai benefited from a good final over with David slamming 17 runs off Mohsin Khan, but the visitors finished a good 20 runs short of a challenging total.

LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: KL Rahul (capt, wk), Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, NichoPooran, Ashton Turner, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav

MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (capt), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah

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