A career-best bowling performance from Akash Madhwal followed useful innings by the batsmen led by Cameron Green as Mumbai Indians beat Lucknow Supergiants by 81 runs in their Indian Premier League Eliminator match here on Wednesday. Chasing Mumbai’s target of 183 runs, the Supergiants team was reduced to 101 runs in 16.3 overs in front of the sharp bowling of Madhwal (five wickets for five runs).
Apart from Marcus Stoinis (40), no other batsman of the Supergiants could play well. Three batsmen of the team were run out. Mumbai had earlier scored 182 for eight thanks to fine innings from Cameron Green (41) and Suryakumar Yadav (33) and a 38-ball 66-run partnership between the two. Tilak Verma (26 off 22 balls) and Nihal Wadhera (23 off 12 balls) played useful innings.
Naveen-ul-Haq was the most successful bowler for the Supergiants, taking four wickets for 38 runs. Yash Thakur also took three wickets for 34 runs. Mumbai will now take on defending champions Gujarat Titans in the second qualifier on May 26 in Ahmedabad. Chasing the target, the Supergiants got off to a bad start. The team lost the wickets of both openers Kyle Myers (18) and Prerak Mankad (03) by 23 runs.
Akash Madhwal had Mankad caught by Hrithik Shokin while Myers caught Green at mid-on trying to pull the ball from Chris Jordan. Marcus Stoinis once again looked in good touch. He took the team’s score to 54 for two in the power play with captain Krunal Pandya. Stoinis welcomed Shokin with two fours and a six off consecutive balls.
Krunal (08), however, was caught by Tim David at long-on in an attempt to play a big shot on Piyush Chawla. Madhwal then dismissed Ayush Badoni (01) and Nicholas Pooran (00) on consecutive balls to take the Supergiants to 74 for five. Badoni was bowled while Pooran handed a catch to wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan.
Stoinis was then run out after hitting Deepak Hooda in an attempt to take two runs, while Krishnappa Gautam (02) fell to Rohit’s accurate target, leaving the team at 92 for seven. Stoinis faced 27 balls and hit five fours and a six. Supergiants completed their century in the 15th over but in the same over of Madhwal, Ravi Bishnoi (03) caught Jordan at long on.
Hooda (15) was also run out in the same over. Supergiants needed 83 runs in the last five overs and Madhwal bowled Mohsin Khan (00) to give Mumbai a place in the second qualifier. Earlier, Rohit (11) won the toss and decided to bat first but he was caught by Ayush Badoni at extra cover off Naveen’s bowling after hitting a six and a four in the opposing captain Krunal Pandya’s over.
Ishan Kishan (15) also handed a catch to wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran off the bowling of Yash Thakur. Last match centurion Green started with two fours off Naveen while in-form Suryakumar hit Yash for a six as soon as he arrived. Green hit three fours in Krunal’s over as the team scored 62 for two in the power play. Suryakumar and Green kept the run rate going in the middle overs. Both hit sixes in Mohsin Khan’s over.
Suryakumar completed the team’s century in the 11th over with a four on Naveen. Suryakumar, however, played Naveen’s slower ball in the air and gave a simple catch to Gautam at long off. He hit two fours and two sixes while facing 20 balls. In the same over, Naveen also bowled Green with a slow ball and gave a double blow to Mumbai.
Green hit six fours and a six in his 23-ball innings. Mumbai’s run rate took a dip after Naveen lost two wickets in the over. The team could only add 15 runs in 13 to 15 overs. Tilak Verma tried to increase the run rate with a six over Naveen but Tim David (13) was caught by Deepak Hooda off the bowling of Yash in the next over. Coming in as an impact player, Nihal Wadhera hit Naveen for a six but Tilak handed the catch to Hooda. Wadhera also hit Yash for two sixes in the last over to take the team’s score past 180 runs but was dismissed on the last ball.
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