Lucknow Super Giants continued their charge in their first season in the Indian Premier League 2022 with an important victory over DC. KL Rahul played a captain’s innings, and Deepak Hooda also put in a tremendous effort to take the Super Giants to a mammoth total of 195.
The target proved to be too much for Delhi as a failure from the openers cost them dearly, in the end falling short by six runs, thanks to some heroics from the likes of Rovman Powell, Rishabh Pant, and Axar Patel. However, credit must be accorded to the sensational Mohsin Khan, who bowled a fabulous spell, picking up four wickets for just 16 runs. The victory takes LSG to the second spot in the table, which all but confirms their place in the knockout stages.
KL Rahul won the toss and decided to bat first. The LSG captain and Quinton de Kock started off in fine fashion. The South African was looking dangerous before a false shot off Shardul Thakur brought about his end in the middle.
Rahul and Hooda, however, carried on with Rahul moving to his anchor’s role, something that he has been doing for the past few seasons now. Hooda was magnificent, striking boundaries at will as he scored a fine half century. He fell shortly after, with his side looking well on course to put up a big total.
Rahul, together with Stoinis and Krunal Pandya were subjected to some good bowling by the Delhi attack and eventually ended their innings on 195, a total which the Capitals would have been happy with after the start LSG had got.
Delhi began on a horrible note, with both their opening batsman walking back in the first few overs itself without making a huge impact on the scorecard. Mitchell Marsh and Pant took the attacking route, bringing the capitals back on track, as the asking rate sat steadily at around 10.
However, the duo’s fightback could not materialise. Wickets started falling rather rapidly. The equation kept getting steeper, with Axar Patel eventually tasked with getting 36 off the final two overs. Patel and Kuldeep did a decent job of trying to reach the target but were unable to do so. The Super Giants claimed a six-run victory.
Brief scores
Lucknow Super Giants 195 for 3 (Rahul 77, Hooda 52, Shardul 3-40) beat Delhi Capitals 189 for 7 (Pant 44, Axar 42*, Mohsin 4-12) by six runs
