mark wood Delhi Capitals’ top-order intimidated by the pace as his five-wicket haul complemented beautifully on debut Kyle MeyersA stupendous 73 in Lucknow Super Giants registered a comfortable 50-run win in their first match of the IPL in Lucknow on Saturday. Meyers, who got the chance to show off his exploits quinton de kockIn the absence of , he hit seven sixes in his 38-ball innings which was largely responsible for a solid 193/6 in 20 overs. In response, Delhi Capitals could only manage 143 runs for nine wickets. david warner (56 off 48 balls) Struggles as any kind of consolation.
Wood (5/14 in 4 overs) hit back-to-back lethal in-cutters off 147 deliveries which Prithvi Shaw (12) and Michelle Marsh (0) fail to bring their respective bats down before the ball hits the ‘wood’.
in the matter of sarfaraz khan (4), his weakness against fast short pitches is well documented and Wood directed one at his body that could have blown his head off and he tried a non-existent ramp shot and found himself in a bungle. Put up and the easiest catch was taken at the fine-leg boundary.
At 48 for 3 from 41 for no loss, it happened in the space of a few overs when Wood had eroded his confidence with raw pace, DC were not able to stage a comeback.
Captain Warner and Riley Rossouw (30 off 20 balls) added 40 runs before freaking out Ravi BishnoiKey (2/31 in 4 overs) deliveries led to his downfall.
Bishnoi and the ‘Impact Substitute’ Krishnappa Gautam (0/19 in 4 overs) bowled well in dew-laden conditions and later really showed off his all-round skills by hitting the last ball for a six during LSG’s batting innings.
DC didn’t look the part on the day as the pace slipped out of their grasp at times. The 16 sixes given away by the DC bowlers were testimony to their inconsistency.
They enjoyed a fine bowling powerplay, with Mears announcing his grand entry on the IPL platform with a scintillating knock.
The left-handed batsman from Barbados, who was included in the absence of South African opener Quinton de Kock, made the Capitals pay a heavy price as he smashed a 28-ball half-century to drop them for 14 runs.
Deepak Hooda At the other end (17, 18b) Meares was a mere spectator of the fury as he scored 79 off 42 balls to accelerate the run-rate in the middle overs.
Both moved to the place of one ball, while Marcus Stoinis (12) Got out cheaply in the middle overs.
But LSG kept pace Nicholas Pooran (36; 21b) and Krunal Pandya (15 not out; 13b) Taking charge, first Ayush Badoni‘Mini Assault (18; 7b, 1×4, 2×6)’ and a six on the last ball of ‘Impact Substitute’ Krishnappa Gautam conceded 22 runs in the 20th over bowled. Chetan Sakaria (2/53).
66 runs came off the last five overs, mainly due to Pooran and Badoni using the long handle to good effect.
LSG, playing their first home game since joining the IPL last year, were in a position to trouble the DC bowlers, who made full use of the difficult single wicket two-way after bowling.
It took the LSG openers, KL Rahul And Meares, with 16 balls to go and gets his maiden boundary.
They were reduced to 19/1 inside four overs when left-arm pacer Sakariya lengthened Rahul’s lean patch by dismissing the Indian opener with a slow delivery. Sakariya’s dismissal of Rahul was the third in four IPL match-ups.
But soon things tilted in favor of the home team khalil ahmed Gave the grass to Meyers in the last over of the powerplay.
Mayor vents his fury against debutant Mukesh KumarCrunched him for two big sixes in the very next over.
There was no stopping Mears as he continued his assault on his frontline spinners Akshar Patel And Kuldeep Yadav He hit seven sixes and two fours in his innings.
Patel, however, had the last laugh when he clean-bowled Meares with a near-square curve ball from an imaginary fifth stump line.
Thereafter, it was his West Indies teammate Nicholas Pooran who seized the momentum with his 21-ball 36 (2X4, 3X6) keeping the run flow going with Krunal Pandya.
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