KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants are progressing from strength to strength in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. On a night when their batters struggled on a sluggish pitch at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, the Lucknow bowlers stepped up and successfully defended a par total of 153 runs.
KL Rahul did not get enough with the bat but he marshaled his bowlers well on the field as Lucknow Super Giants won by 20 runs and moved to the 3rd spot on the points table. The IPL 2022 newbies now have 12 points from 9 matches after Rahul plotted the downfall of his former franchise.
Lucknow Super Giants flaunted the variety in their bowling attack, making life difficult for the Punjab Kings batters who never found any bit of momentum in their chase. Sri Lanka fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera came up with an all-round effort as he got the big wicket of Mayank Agarwal (25) in the powerplay and Jonny Bairstow (32) in his second spell after he hit a quickfire 17, which included 2 sixes, that helped push Lucknow’s total past 150.
PBKS vs LSG, IPL 2022 Highlights
Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya choked the run-flow and picked up the key wicket of Bhanuka Rajapaksa (9) and Jitesh Sharma. The in-form bowler finished with figures of 11/2 including a maiden over as he gave nothing away in the middle overs to the Punjab batters.
MOHSIN KHAN SHINES
Mohsin Khan, 23-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, is proving to be another great find by Lucknow Super Giants as the left-arm pacer was brilliant with his control and variations. He knocked out the big-hitting Liam Livingstone early to dent Punjab’s hopes before returning to pick up the wicket of Kagiso Rabada in the 18th over.
Mohsin picked up his third wicket — Rahul Chahar for 4 – and finished with figures of 3/24, joining the ever-growing list of young Indian pacers who are making heads turn in IPL 2022.
Not to forget, Mohsin’s handy contribution with the bat as the left-hander hit 13 runs from just 6 balls, smashing a six and a boundary.
SCRATCHY DHAWAN
Barring, Mayank and Bairstow, none of the other Punjab batters looked comfortable in the middle. Senior batter Shikhar Dhawan, who had hit a match-winning 88 not out against Chennai Super Kings, struggled to put bat to ball in the powerplay, managing just 5 runs from 15 balls before giving Ravi Bishnoi his only wicket of the day.
Bairstow and Livingstone stitched a 30-run stand that kept Punjab in the chase. However, after Livingstone’s exit, Bairstow was left with a little too much to do on a sluggish wicket as he kept losing partners at regular intervals.
RARE RAHUL FAILURE
Earlier in the day, Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul suffered a rare failure and it came a