Lucknow Super Giants registered their first win of the tournament as they defeated Punjab Kings by 21 runs at Ekana Stadium, Lucknow on 30th March 2024. Punjab Kings openers Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow looked solid keeping the strike rotating and hitting the boundaries with ease. The young pace sensation Mayank Yadav was introduced into the attack and troubled Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan with pace.
Mayank Yadav bowled with a sharp pace that troubled PBKS openers Dhawan and Bairstow. The youngster eventually got the breakthrough dismissing Bairstow with another sharp bouncer with a simple catch to Stoinis at deep midwicket. He ended 102 runs opening wicket partnership.
Mayank showed great composure getting the wicket of Prabhsimran Singh with another short ball with an easy catch to Naveen UL Haq at mid-on. He showed great skills in not allowing Punjab Kings batters to score runs easily. Despite Shikhar Dhawan making runs, Mayank then got his third wicket dismissing Jitesh Sharma with another lovely delivery. He bowled the fastest delivery this season so far of 155.8 KMPH which made the batting very tough.
It was a dream debut as Mayank ended with figures of 3 for 27 in 4 overs which halted the progress of Punjab Kings batting. Mohsin Khan also delivered the goods picking 2 important wickets of Shikhar Dhawan and Sam Curran that put them on the backfoot.
For his match-winning efforts, Mayank Yadav was named the player of the match award. During his entire spell of 24 deliveries, the pace sensation delivered the goods with 147, 146, 150, 141, 147,149, 156, 150, 142, 144, 153, 149, 147, 145, 140, 142, 153, 154, 149, 142, 152, 148.
“Never thought it would be such a good debut. Was nervous before the match. Tried to stick to my pace and aim at the stumps. Was thinking about using slower ones initially, but stuck to the quick ones,” said Mayank, who was named the Player of the Match.
Lucknow Super Giants register their 1st win in IPL 2024
Stand-in captain Nicolas Pooran won the toss and decided to bat first. KL Rahul came as an impact player to open with de Kock. Rahul and de Kock raced away to 35 runs in quick time.
De Kock 54, Pooran quickfire 42 off 21 deliveries, and a cameo by Krunal Pandya with an unbeaten 43 off 22 balls helped Lucknow Super Giants post 199 for 5 in 20 overs. De Kock and Pooran added 47 runs for the 4th wicket that laid the foundation for a big total.
Lucknow Super Giants will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their next match on 2nd April.
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