Hello and a warm welcome to yet another blog on the daily match reviews on this year’s IPL. In this blog, I will be writing about the game played between the Lucknow Super Giants and the Mumbai Indians in the beautiful Ekana ground, which proved to be a low-scoring thriller, a rare sight in this season. So without any further delay, let’s get started!
KL Rahul won the toss and opted to field first on an Ekana track quite similar to the previous season, where it was a bowler’s game. His decision proved right as MI’s top-order faltered once again, but unlike the game against DC, even half of their middle-order fell early. Wadhera and Kishan stabilised the innings for a bit but Kishan fell shortly after. But Wadhera kept going and with some powerful hits by David, MI scampered to a partly 144. Chasing a small total, the young Kulkarni fell for a golden duck, but KLR and Stoinis ensured their team crossed the 50-run mark by the powerplay with ease. But MI kept throwing punches at the Super Giants, with Hardik having a good day with the ball. Again Stoinis was influential as Hooda and Pooran played small cameos to get the Super Giants home by 4 wickets and 4 balls spare.
In another thriller at the Ekana, MI’s top-order played quite similar to how the PBKS top-order faltered in their initial matches. What went worse was even Tilak Varma, almost a backbone for the batting fell early as well. Both teams used the conditions superbly, which was on the slower side but LSG won the game by dominating the powerplays in either innings. Hardik’s batting continues to be a huge concern for MI and Team India as he fell for a golden duck this game, but he did well with the ball to cover things up, which is something to cheer for the management. Young Thushara had his first good outing this game as he picked his first wicket in the IPL and bowled economically. So the top performances of the game for LSG are led by Naveen because he picked up 3 wickets and was economical, followed by Stoinis and Mohsin Khan. For MI, the top performer would be Wadhera, who played a wonderful rearguard, followed by Bumrah, who was once again economical and Hardik.
So here we come to the end of this blog. The next one will be about CSKvPBKS at Chepauk, and since it is May 1, with a guarantee I can say there won’t be a seat available for that one. So stay tuned for that and see you on this one!