High on LSG thanks to lower order and bowlers | Cricket

Catches win matches? Punjab Kings would have certainly hoped so. That, and a great direct throw, along with some honesty from Quinton de Kock could have worked too. Punjab Kings bowled well and fielded brilliantly but their batters stuck to their slam-bang brand of cricket to not give a 154-run target the patience and caution it deserved on a tricky Pune pitch. The credit of this 20-run victory however goes completely to the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) lower order and bowlers.

Wobbling at 111/6 at one point of time, not only did Jason Holder, Dushmantha Chameera and Mohsin Khan add 41 runs in 24 balls but also removed Punjab’s mainstays in a keenly fought contest. Electing to field, Mayank Agarwal looked on top of the chase as long as he wasn’t trying anything fancy. But looking to whack Chameera over mid-off, Agarwal ended up backing away too much and not getting enough bat under the ball. Standing at cover, KL Rahul timed his jump beautifully to catch it. Looking to break free after being shackled to a 15-ball five, Shikhar Dhawan tried sweeping Ravi Bishnoi’s googly and was castled.

Punjab kept losing wickets at regular intervals after that. Liam Livingston gave hope in the 11th over when he hoicked Bishnoi for two consecutive sixes but it was Krunal Pandya’s miserly spell of 4-1-11-2 that set up the match in the middle overs as Punjab started to fall behind the asking rate. Once that level of despair was triggered in the Punjab Kings camp, the rest of the wickets too started tumbling. Bhanuka Rajapaksa got a leading edge off Pandya; Livingstone paid the price for trying a cute shot off Khan’s pace before Pandya again pegged back Punjab with the wicket of Jitesh Sharma. The final nail came in the form of Jonny Bairstow’s wicket after he slashed Chameera straight to Pandya at deep third man. Rishi Dhawan hit 10 runs off the first two balls in the last over but the ask was too steep by then anyway.

LSG would have probably benefited by a few more runs had de Kock not decided to walk. Umpire Ulhas Gandhe was unmoved by Sandeep Sharma’s caught-behind appeal though there was a clear deflection. De Kock however walked when LSG were literally cruising at 98/1 in the 13th over. Pumping the brakes on their acceleration completely was the next wicket in the form of Deepak Hooda’s run out.

Pulling a short ball towards deep square leg, Hooda lazily turned around for a single but Bairstow hared in from the deep and chanced his arm at a single stump. Once such throws into direct hits, there is little chance for the batter. More grief started coming LSG’s way after that. Marcus Stoinis made room and tried to force a good-length delivery from Rahul Chahar but got his toe to it instead, prompting Chahar to move brilliantly to his left and clasp it.

LSG shouldn’t have been perturbed by that, not with that deep batting line-up. But it turned out to be one of those days when nothing went right. Ayush Badoni top-edged Kagiso Rabada but with three fielders converging there was every chance of it being fluffed. Livingstone, however, called early and safely pouched it.