KL Rahul led the Lucknow Super Giants batting with elan, scoring a brilliant 77 off 51 deliveries to drive the innings on to 195/3 against Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede in Mumbai.
While Rahul did that at the top of the order, Marcus Stoinis’ cameo and Deepak Hooda’s half century were also crucial for LSG, who lost three wickets, all to Shardul Thakur.
Batting first, Lucknow Super Giants had a quick start with Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul firing away on all cylinders from the get go, scoring at close to 10 runs an over early on. The openers made good use of the batting conditions and raced away to a flyer, finding the boundaries with ease and putting on a 42-run stand before Shardul Thakur found the breakthrough. De Kock was caught by Lalit Yadav for 23, having hit 3 boundaries and a six.
Rahul and Deepak Hooda though continued to keep the momentum going, and were particularly severe on Lalit and Kuldeep Yadav. Rahul, as always, was setting up for a big one while Hooda was more than happy to take on the role of scoring quickly. Kuldeep too found it tough with these two in the middle as they milked the bowling quite comfortably.
Just at the halfway stage, the likes of Kuldeep, Axar and Chetan Sakariya went for runs and as did Shardul, with the two batters marching along towards their individual half-centuries. Rahul brought up his fifty in the 13th over while Hooda did so in the next.
The batters were inching close to the 100-run mark for the partnership before Shardul struck again for Delhi, and had Hooda caught and bowled for 52 off 34 deliveries. But at 145/2 after 15 overs, Lucknow had the platform with a set KL Rahul to go on the attack.
Marcus Stoinis was in the middle too and the with Rahul was looking to finish well, and while Kuldeep kept it tight, Shardul and Sakariya went for runs. The 18th saw Lalit drop Stoinis at midwicket off Mustafizur, who conceded 8 off the over.
Rahul was looking to accelerate and taking on Shardul in his final over, but Lalit made up for his mistakes earlier in the field and pulled off superb catch at deep cover to send the opener back for 77 of 51 balls with 5 sixes and 4 fours in it. Shardul finished with three wickets, while Stoinis and Krunal Pandya added 19 in all in the final 8 deliveries in the innings. Stoinis was unbeaten on 17 while Krunal added 9 more to push the total to 195/3.
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