IPL 2023, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) vs Mumbai Indians (MI): Marcus Stoinis' 89, Ravi Bishnoi 2-26 and Rohit Sharma-Ishan Kishan's 90-run stand are top performances. LSG beat Mumbai and move to third place in points table.
Brief Scores LSG 177/3 (Stoinis 89*, Krunal 49, Behrendorff 2/30) beat MI 172/5 (Kishan 59, Rohit 37, Bishnoi 2/26) by 5 runs.
Player Of the Match: Marcus Stoinis (89 off 47)
In a virtual knockout clash, the Mumbai Indians took on the hosts, the Lucknow Super Giants, at the Ekana Stadium. The home team, LSG, just went past the line by 5 runs in what was a rare high-scoring contest at this venue this season.
Lucknow's Sensational Victory Against Mumbai in an Exciting Showdown
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma opted to field first after winning the toss with Vishnu Vinod who made a decent debut for MI last game being replaced in favor of Hrithik Shokeen. LSG too made a couple of changes, like bringing back Naveen ul Haq and dropping opener Kyle Mayers. Deepak Hooda who was slated at the top of the order in place of Mayers fell cheaply and so did Prerak Mankad within the powerplays as LSG was reduced to 35/2 in the first 6 overs. De Kock too departed immediately after and then pair of skippers Krunal Pandya (49) and Stoinis (89*) put on 82 for the 4th wicket. Though the former was out retired because of a thigh injury, the Aussie all-rounder smashed 8 sixes to propel the hosts to 177/3.
Chasing 178 to win this all-important clash, the MI openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan were off to a flying start, scoring 58 in the powerplays, and at the halfway mark they lost Rohit’s wicket making 92 runs. Then Ravi Bishnoi picked his 2nd scalping Ishan Kishan for 59 and this dented the MI chase to an extent. They lost wickets at regular intervals including that of inform Suryakumar Yadav, and the blitz from Tim David (32* from 19) took them within touching distance of winning, but Moshin Khan bowled a splendid last over where he gave only 5 runs to give LSG a thrilling 5 run win.
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Talking Points; LSG's Youthful Bowling Powerhouses
The talking point of the game was the performance of the LSG young bowlers against the might of the MI batters. They didn’t have any big names in their bowling unit aside from the skipper himself, Krunal Pandya. Ravi Bishnoi snapped the openers to give LSG an opening, while impact player Yash Thakur got rid of Suryakumar Yadav, and Moshin got into his groove while successfully defending 11 in the final over against the likes of Green and Tim David.
Let us scan the key performances of the LSG vs MI game of IPL 2023
Marcus Stoinis comes to the party when mattered the most
Lucknow has been the lowest-scoring venue in this IPL and today was no different. Though not as tough to score as in the other games here, the batters must work hard to make runs. But the way Marcus Stoinis hit maximums looked like he was batting on a different surface altogether.
Coming at a score of 35/3 after the fall of Quinton de Kock, Stoinis was quickly off the blocks and injected the run flow in the middle overs. He reached his half-century in just 36 balls, but the over of Jordan where the right-hander smashed 24 runs and then hit a couple of sixes of Jason Behrendorff, took just 11 balls to make the next 39 runs, finishing at an unbeaten 89.
Rohit Sharma-Ishan Kishan come to all guns blazing at the top
The Mumbai Indians openers Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma took advantage of the fielding restrictions in place by smashing all over the park in the first 6 overs. They accumulated 58 runs in the phase with Ishan Kishan being the major contributor reaching his fifty off 34 balls while the MI captain made a quick fire 37 off 25 balls as the first wicket partnership fetched them 90 runs in just 58 deliveries.
But both fell to Ravi Bishnoi in quick succession, which pushed back the visitors in their run chase.
Ravi Bishnoi turns the game for LSG with his timely strikes
There was a time when it looked like MI would cruise through the run-chase with the start their openers Rohit and Ishan gave and it took a wicket-taking spell of Ravi Bishnoi to not only bring LSG back into the contest but also slow things down for MI.
This put pressure on Mumbai’s middle order and not even a hard-hitting cameo from Tim David can take the visitor home. The wicket of Rohit was Bishnoi’s 50th in IPL cricket and he finished with 2/26.
Read More: IPL 2023: Is KL Rahul's injury a boon or bane for LSG? What would be the team combination?
What’s Next And Points Table
LSG with this win move to 3rd position in the points table level with CSK at 15 points with a game to go and they now travel to Eden Gardens on the 20th to take on KKR who just defeated CSK in their previous game.
MI go back to their home Wankhede to face SRH in a must-win game on 21st May. Ideally, on form, both teams should win their games respectively.
IPL 2023 Points Table
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