Fiery debutant Mayank Yadav impresses as Super Giants beat Punjab Kings

Nicholas Pooran played a crucial knock for Lucknow Super Giants

Earlier in the day, Nicholas Pooran walked out for the toss as captain for LSG in place of KL Rahul, who only batted and was later substituted by the Impact Player, Naveen. Pooran said this was done to ease Rahul into the tournament as he was returning from an injury. LSG chose to bat first on a good wicket in front of their supportive home fan base.

LSG’s innings was initially spearheaded by Quinton de Kock, who smashed a 38-ball 54. Rahul started well but was dismissed when he tried to find the gap through point but was caught superbly by Bairstow. In the sixth over, Devdutt Padikkal made room and tried to go over mid-off, only to find the fielder.

Meanwhile, de Kock soldiered on and batted at a good pace. The innings got real impetus when Pooran joined de Kock. The 27-ball 47-run stand set a proper platform for a big score. Although de Kock was dismissed in the 14th over, Pooran’s attack continued as he smashed his way to 42 off 21 balls, featuring three fours and three sixes, until he inside-edged one onto the stumps from Kagiso Rabada.

In the slog overs, Krunal Pandya’s enterprising knock (43 not out off 22 balls) helped push LSG towards 200.

PBKS bowlers kept striking at regular intervals, but with Pandya in the middle, LSG looked set to cross 200. It was only a good last over by Harshal Patel that kept LSG a run short of that 200-run mark. In an innings where batters generally attacked, Sam Curran was the pick of the bowlers with 3-28 in his four overs. (IPL)