Quinton de Kock’s 80 from just 52 balls laid the platform for Lucknow Super Giants’ six-wicket victory against the Delhi Capitals in their IPL match at the DY Patil Sports Academy ground in Mumbai on Thursday.
Chasing a modest 149 for three for victory having opted to bowl first, the new boys from Lucknow paced the run-chase with patience and precision to cross the line with two balls to spare to maintain their 100 per cent record with three wins out of three.
De Kock struck nine fours and two sixes and shared an opening stand of 73 with captain KL Rahul who was happy to take a back seat with 24 from 25 balls.
Krunal Pandya (19 not out from 14 balls) and Ayush Badoni (10 not out from three balls) finished the job after De Kock’s departure, caught in the deep off left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
The decisive moment of the run chase came with Anrich Nortje’s introduction to the attack inside the Power Play when De Kock helped himself to 19 runs.
Nortje’s first competitive game for almost three months after injury ended in expensive ignominy when he was removed from the attack after two no-ball full tosses in his third over having conceded 35 runs from 14 balls.
DOT-BALL PRESSURE
Earlier, Delhi opener Prithvi Shaw top-scored with a fine 61 but the Super Giants spinners bowled ten overs between them for a combined return of 3-57 to restrict the middle overs after a fast start – at least from one end.
Shaw dominated the strike in a peculiar opening partnership with Australian veteran David Warner which yielded 67 runs of which Warner contributed just four while Shaw hammered nine fours and two sixes before top-edging a cut against off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham (4-1-23-1) into De Kock’s gloves to depart for 61 from just 34 balls.
Warner cut a short, wide delivery from legspinner Ravi Bishnoi (4-0-22-2) to Ayush Badoni at backward point to be dismissed for a curiously disjointed innings of four from 12 balls. Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya conceded just 12 runs from his two overs.
West Indian powerhouse Rovman Powell also succumbed to dot-ball pressure and, having scored just three runs from nine balls, he aimed a mighty slog-sweep at Bishnoi and lost his off stump leaving Delhi on 74 for three having lost 3-7 in three overs.
Captain Rishabh Pant scored just six runs from his first 17 balls before bursting into life with three successive boundaries against Australian seamer Andrew Tye whose third over cost 18 runs after just 10 from his first two.
Pant finished on 39 not out from 36 balls (3x4, 2x6) and added 75 unbroken runs with Sarfaraz Khan who remained unbeaten on 36 from 28 deliveries with three fours.
LUCKNOW GIANTS: KL Rahul (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Evin Lewis, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Krishnappa Gowtham, Andrew Tye, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan
DELHI CAPITALS: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), Rovman Powell, Sarfaraz Khan, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Anrich Nortje