🏏 TATA IPL 2022: Match -15 : Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals 🏏

[XP 007]

LSG: 126-3 after 17 overs

16.6 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, 1 run, finishes the over with another slower ball, pitched up, Krunal drives down to long-off

16.5 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, no run, Mustafizur is using his slower ones cleverly here, lands this on a length and cramps Krunal for room. Punched back to the bowler. Two dots in a row now

16.4 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, no run, very full, slower one that's deceived Krunal and he's early into the flick, Gets struck on the back leg

16.3 Mustafizur to Hooda, 1 run, widish off-cutter, Hooda reaches out and drives it to deep point

16.2 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, 1 run, quite full and angling in, Krunal clips it softly through mid-wicket

16.1 Mustafizur to Hooda, 1 run, wider line, fuller, steered away through point

Mustafizur Rahman [2.0-0-8-0] is back into the attack

Krunal Pandya, left handed bat, comes to the crease

Hooda and Krunal are at the crease together. The buddies will want to see their side home

 

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131-3 after 18 overs

17.6 Thakur to Krunal Pandya, 1 run, excellent delivery to finish a terrific over from Shardul! Lands it on a near-yorker length, squeezed away down to long-off. Just five runs off the over!

17.5 Thakur to Krunal Pandya, 2 runs, Krunal tries to heave this for a boundary but it's a well-disguised slower ball on a good length, miscue that lands safe between long-on and deep mid-wicket. A couple more to the total

17.4 Thakur to Krunal Pandya, no run, brilliant stuff! Wide yorker, pin-point accuracy and Krunal can't do much, except dig it back towards Shardul. 22 runs | 14 balls now! Lucknow need a boundary sooner than later

Quite dewy out there and the bowler's landing area has got a bit slippery. Some sawdust being applied.

17.3 Thakur to Hooda, 1 run, this is turning out to be a fine over from Shardul, nailing the yorkers, wide line this and it's stabbed away through point. Just a single

17.2 Thakur to Krunal Pandya, 1 run, pitched right up, dug out to mid-wicket and they pinch a risky single. Direct hit could have been close for Krunal

17.1 Thakur to Krunal Pandya, no run, swing and a miss! Krunal was probably expecting a slower one, Shardul goes pace-on, very full and wide, angling further away. Swing and a miss

Shardul Thakur [2.0-0-14-0] is back into the attack

Just four runs off that Mustafizur over. 24 runs | 18 balls is the equation now. Quite comfortable of course, unless Lucknow press the panic button. Delhi will want to squeeze the boundaries away and hope for a bad shot or two. Crucial over this, because the Fizz should be bowling the next over. If Shardul can get it right in these six deliveries, there could be some life in this game.

 

[XP 007]

145-3 after 19 overs

18.6 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, 2 runs, wide of the crease goes Mustafizur, searching for that inswinging yorker maybe but doles out a full toss, Krunal gets enough bat to clear the infield at extra cover. Another brace

18.5 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, 2 runs, wide yorker, Krunal manages to squeeze it away just wide of extra cover. Sweeper is squarer and that means an easy brace

18.4 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, 2 runs, in-angler, cramps Krunal who was backing away early, still manages to slam this down the ground with power. Warner from long-on gets across with a superb dive to save the boundary

18.3 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, SIX, and Krunal delivers a telling blow under pressure! Lucknow desperately needed this as the boundaries were drying and it was starting to get out of hand a little bit. Clever batting, expected the slower ball and Mustafizur is guilty of feeding the slot a wee bit. Smoked high and handsome, over long-on. Game back in Lucknow's territory

Equation: 17 runs | 10 balls. Clock ticking for LSG here.

18.2 Mustafizur to Hooda, 1 run, wily off-cutter, Hooda wants to go inside out over extra cover but slices it a tad squarer, to sweeper cover. Just a single again

18.1 Mustafizur to Krunal Pandya, 1 run, slower ball on a length around off, mistimed heave to deep mid-wicket. Just a single

Excellent last 12 deliveries from Mustafizur and Shardul, and the game has now gotten very tense. 19 runs | 12 balls is the equation with The Fizz bowling the penultimate. Game is on a knife's edge here.

 

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19.4 Thakur to Ayush Badoni, SIX, Badoni smokes it over extra cover to make it three wins in a row for LSG! Wide yorker gone wrong, in the slot and the young man bludgeons it over the infield. Clean, crisp strike to seal the deal



19.3 Thakur to Ayush Badoni, FOUR, super shot! Cool as a cucumber under pressure is Badoni. No premeditated movements in the crease or haste in shot selection, gets a low full toss and plays a scorching off-drive. Bisects the diviing fielders at extra cover and mid-off. Scores level now. Badoni had a fist-pump to Krunal Pandya as soon as the gap was found. Some talent, this young lad with his shots

19.2 Thakur to Ayush Badoni, no run, slower bouncer, risky delivery from Shardul with third man up but Badoni makes a leave, expecting a wide for height. The square leg ump though, deems it a legal ball. A dot then! Must say Shardul has gotten away with one here

Ayush Badoni, right handed bat, comes to the crease



19.1Thakur to Hooda, out Caught by Axar!! And it is indeed a wicket first ball! Excellent take under pressure from Axar at sweeper cover. Slower ball wider outside off, Hooda was looking to big inside out over cover, sliced it a bit and got this squarer, towards where sweeper cover was placed. Axar timed his dive forward in time to pouch this. Hooda c Axar b Thakur 11(13)

Thakur to Hooda, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Just five needed off the final over. How massive was that six from Krunal in the context of this game! Not fully done yet though, as we've seen lesser runs being defended off the final over in an IPL game before. Neither batter would want to relax till they have seen the winning runs. Shardul to bowl. A wicket or a dot ball(s) early will make it interesting

 

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23:33 Local Time, 18:03 GMT, 23:33 IST: At the innings break, it seemed like DC were about 10-15 runs short and that seemed evident right through this run chase. LSG were always on top due to the lack of scoreboard pressure and it actually was a brilliant couple of overs from Mustafizur (17th over) and Shardul (18th over) that actually brought the game alive. But Krunal held his nerve, smoking a big six off The Fizz's penultimate over and then young Badoni finished the game with two splendid strikes in the 20th over. 'Badoni finishes it in style' could be a sentence that we'll use a lot this season. Amazing talent, amazing composure. The chase was set up by De Kock though, who anchored the innings with a controlled 80 with the other top-order batters sticking with him. Much like Shaw in the first half, the South African seemed to bat on a different surface. Wasn't the easiest of pitches, with the change of pace proving tricky, even with the dew helping the chasing side a wee bit. Delhi needed to strike early with the ball to be ahead in the game, and once that didn't happen, they were always playing catchup. There will be some discussion around their batting, can't afford to get sub-150 scores with just three down.

 

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Rishabh Pant: When the dew is like that you can't be complaining, as a batting unit we were 10-15 short, at the end Avesh and Holder pulled it back, credit to them. We were talking about giving 100% till the last ball of the 40th over, no matter what happens [on his chat to the team before the start of the 2nd innings]. The powerplay was fine, we didn't get any wicket, our spin attack did well in the middle overs but in the end we were 10-15 short.

 

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Ravi Bishnoi: We were confident (during the chase), because we have depth in our batting. The game got a little tight towards the end, but we still had Holder and KG to come. Feels good when you take wickets and contribute for the team, the ball is coming off nicely off my hand, feel really pleased. He (Narendra Hirwani) keeps on telling me and where I can get better and improve my game. It's going good so far.

 

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KL Rahul: I think we were brilliant (with the ball). In the powerplay, we obviously need to go back and work on. But that's how powerplays go sometimes. We assessed things well after that and bowled better. Obviously, would have loved the bowlers to assess things a bit earlier, but it was nice to see them discuss the lines, lengths and pace to bowl after the powerplay. That was the honest reason actually (on him saying at the toss that he had no idea why he opted to bowl). Can't make up a reason everytime. You don't know what to expect of the pitch. Early on in the competition when the pitches are fresh, teams might want to bowl first. Once the tournament goes on and the pitches grip a bit, teams might want to bat. He (Badoni) has held his nerve everytime he has gone into bat and he's delivered for us under pressure. Great learning for him, important for him to keep working hard and stay humble. Been a complete team effort so far. The way everyone has stepped up has been brilliant.

 

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Quinton de Kock | Player of the Match: It was a matter of just playing what's in front of you, reacting to it. It was a chaseable score. You want a decent start in the powerplay and we didn't want to get too ahead in the chase. Was important to keep wickets in hand. Prithvi did make it look easy, for me I also felt that it was a slow surface. Even with the dew, there was a bit of grip. If we were chasing 180, might have been difficult but thanks to our bowlers.

 

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Commentary


They might have lost a game that they should have won, but Lucknow have injected momentum into their campaign with three wins on the trot and are now at second spot. Apart from the results, they'll be happy that things are clicking collectively for them. Delhi on the other hand, won't be too disappointed as both their losses have been close games, and it's their batting that let them down today. They'll need to buckle up in that department as the points table will be a proper scrap this season with teams jostling for that top-four spot. Right then, that's a wrap to today's IPL coverage. We'll bring you more entertainment tomorrow. Punjab and Rajasthan will be facing-off in the next encounter, and that should be a fun-filled game. Do join us for it. Until then, this is Hari Sadanandan signing off on behalf of Akshay Maanay, Raju Peethala and Siva. Cheers!