Lucknow Super Giants 257 for 5 (Stoinis 72, Mayers 54, Pooran 45, Badoni 43, Rabada 2-52) beat Punjab Kings 201 (Taide 66, Thakur 4-37, Naveen 3-30, Bishnoi 2-41) by 56 runs
Mayers gets the party started
The entertainment began when Mayers clubbed Arshdeep Singh for four fours in the second over. Next over, he deposited a free hit from debutant Gurnoor Brar for six over midwicket. When PBKS introduced spin, Mayers went 6, 4, 6 off Sikandar Raza in the fifth over. He was dismissed with one ball left in the powerplay, but by then he’d already scored 54 – the most by a batter in the first six overs this season. LSG ended that phase at 72 for 2.
Unstoppable Stoinis
In seven previous innings this season, Stoinis had been dismissed for 21 or less five times, including a duck in his last game against Chennai Super Kings. But when he’s got into his groove, LSG have prospered. He’d slammed 65 off 30 in a successful chase of 213 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and here in Mohali Stoinis was similarly brutal.
It began with a free-hit off the second legal ball of the eighth over, which Stoinis flicked for six off Gurnoor. The next ball was driven for four, and Stoinis was away. In the tenth over, he guided Sam Curran for four behind point; and when the bowler tried a slower delivery, he put him away with a short-arm pull.
There was a life in the 13th over when Liam Livingstone’s left foot tickled the rope while he caught Stoinis on the long-off boundary, off Rahul Chahar. Stoinis soon reached fifty from 31 balls, his innings of 72 eventually featuring five sixes.
Badoni and Pooran keep the fireworks going
The bowlers had no respite when Stoinis was off strike. Badoni put on 89 for the third wicket with Stoinisk and struck three fours and three sixes while rushing along at a strike rate close to 180. His dismissal in the 14th over brought Pooran to the crease, and he immediately hit Liam Livingstone for three successive fours.
Pooran’s 45 off 19 featured just a solitary six, a swivel-pull that sailed high over fine leg, but there were seven fours, most of them timed beautifully through gaps in the outfield, with a late squeeze behind point of Arshdeep standing out.
Taide fights, but PBKS fall well short
Sent in at No. 3 after Shikhar Dhawan departed in the first over, Taide kept ticking along as his partners came and went. Taide made 31 of the 47 runs PBKS scored in the first five overs, including five boundaries, including a leg-side hoick, a drive past mid-off, and a slap through point off one Avesh Khan over, and he followed up with a big six off Amit Mishra soon after the powerplay.
Taide got to his half-century from 26 deliveries to start the tenth over, but by then PBKS’ required rate was already threatening to touch 16 an over. And when Taide departed after miscuing a slog-sweep off Ravi Bishnoi, PBKS needed a near-impossible 131 from seven overs, with six wickets in hand.
Livingstone, Curran and Jitesh Sharma kept the boundary count rising – there were 67 in all, eventually, the joint second-most in an IPL game – but the contest was done and dusted by then.
Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo