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Fearsome Yadav bowls Super Giants to victory

cricket30 March 2024 18:20| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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Mayank Yadav © Sportzpics

Young fast bowler Mayank Yadav stole the limelight from all the experienced players when he not only bowled his team to a 21-run victory over the Punjab Kings but also delivered the fastest ball yet delivered in the Tata IPL of 155.8 kph at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Lucknow Super Giants youngster, making his debut in the competition, claimed 3/27 in his four overs – three of the top four Punjab batters – as he had the visitors’ ducking and diving to avoid his thunderbolts.

The most important of his three scalps was that of Punjab opener Jonny Bairstow who was hopelessly late on a searing, short-paced delivery, splicing the ball to midwicket.

Bairstow (42 off 29 balls) and his captain, Shikhar Dhawan (70 off 50 balls) had put on an impressive 102 for the opening wicket in 11.4 overs as the visitors made an excellent start to their run chase of exactly 200 after the Super Giants had totalled 199 for eight in their knock after skipper Nicholas Pooran had won the toss and opted to bat first.

But Yadav’s contribution changed the tone of the match as the visitors were only able to compile 178 for five, losing comfortably. It was the Super Giants’ first win of the competition. Yadav’s other two victims were Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma, both out, like Bairstow, after being late on their shots and spooning the ball into the outfield.

Punjab never recovered from Yadav’s burst although Liam Livingstone, who had earlier pulled a quad muscle and was reduced to hobbling his runs, did make a brave attempt when he came to the wicket, cracking 28 off 17 balls, including two fours and two sixes, with each stroke prompting a rictus of pain on his face.

It was a remarkable turnaround in the match after Dhawan and Bairstow had threatened to blow the Super Giants away. Dhawan, in particular, played superbly, striking seven fours and three sixes in his innings.

But, as is so often the case in this format, even the best of starts has to be maintained if victory is to be achieved, and Punjab simply failed to keep abreast of the run-rate after Yadav’s remarkable spell. Mohsin Khan also made a useful contribution to the bowling, getting two wickets in two balls to help maintain the pressure.

21ST IPL 50 FOR DE KOCK

Earlier, Quinton de Kock and Nicholas Pooran were the key contributors as the Super Giants compiled their challenging but by no means intimidating total.

De Kock struck 54 in 38 balls – his 21st IPL half-century – while Pooran raced to 42 off 21 balls as the home team almost broke through the 200-run barrier.

Both men were out to soft dismissals when they were poised to wreak real damage, however, and the Super Giants will be a little disappointed that they weren’t able to score at least 20 more runs on a pitch with more pace and bounce than usual.

On the other hand, the Super Giants could have fallen even shorter of their ideal score without an aggressive cameo at the death from Krunal Pandya (43 off 22 balls) who exploited some indisciplined bowling from the Kings.

The frustration factor remained high for the home side, with KL Rahul (15) and Marcus Stoinis (19 off 12 balls) in particular getting out just when they were poised to explode.

Rahul was nicely caught at backward point by Bairstow off Arshdeep Singh while Stoinis was deceived by a quicker ball from wrist-spinner Rahul Chahar who was otherwise expensive, going for 42 off three overs.

The highlight of the innings was the fourth-wicket partnership of 47 off 27 balls by De Kock and Pooran, two exciting left-handers who played some delightful shots.

De Kock struck five fours and two sixes while Pooran thrashed three fours and three sixes.

But, in keeping with the innings as a whole, they were out to disappointing shots, with De Kock caught by the wicketkeeper and Pooran playing an ugly hoick to play on.

The most successful bowler for Punjab was Sam Curran who claimed 3-28 in four overs.

The English left-arm seamer was on a hat-trick at one stage and varied his pace cleverly.

Kagiso Rabada captured the key wicket of Pooran but was otherwise expensive, going for 38 in his four overs.

Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (capt), Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, M Siddharth

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

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