Mark Wood picked up a fifer in Lucknow’s opening match against Delhi Capital
It was a momentous occasion for cricket fans in Uttar Pradesh as IPL came to the biggest state of the country for the first time when KL Rahul’s Lucknow Supergiant took on David Warner’s Delhi Capitals who is leading the team in the absence of Rishabh Pant.
Batting first after losing the toss, Lucknow was off to a slow start as the ball was stopping a bit and the opening pair of KL and Mayers was not able to time the ball which resulted in Kl losing his wicket trying to help a slower ball to the boundary but the captain only managed to hit the ball straight to Axar Patel who was stationed at the boundary.
Deepak Hooda came to bat after the fall of Rahul’s wicket and he also found it difficult to get going as there was a bit of help for the bowlers at the start which was evident as LSG managed to score 30-1 at the end of the powerplay.
Image Courtesy: IPLT20.Com
But the partnership between Mayers and Hooda propelled once the powerplay was over and the pair hit the ball in the gaps and kept the scoreboard moving before changing gears after the eighth over, especially Mayers who took on the spinners and did not let them settle and it took peach of a delivery from Axar to dismiss Mayers who was looking set to score first hundreds of IPL 2024.
Delhi used the small opening provided by Mayers as they dismissed Hooda soon after which was followed by a decent phase for the Capitals where the bowlers bowled tight lines and created pressure which resulted in the wicket of Marcus Stoinis who was caught by Sarfaraz Khan on the bowling of Khaleel Ahmad who’s fir three overs were tight as he picked up two wickets in his first three overs before going for a bit in his last over.Â
Ayush Badoni’s explosive performance turns the game in favor of Lucknow Super Giants
The match’s turning point came when young sensation Ayush Badoni Came in to bat at number seven and started hitting boundaries from the word go. But his best with the bat was yet to come as he and Krishnappa Gowtham who came in as an impact player for the last ball of the innings hit three sixes in the last over of the innings to take the score which looked 175 at one point of time to 192.
Image Courtesy: The Indian Express
Chasing a target of 193 Delhi Capitals got off to a flier as the opening pair of Prithvi Shaw and David Warner scored 40 runs in the first four overs before Mark Wood came to bowl. The English fast bowler created havoc in his first over as he dismissed Shaw and Marsh on back-to-back deliveries to bring Lucknow back in the game.
The fast Lucknow is back in the game. The fast bowler was in no mood to stop as he soon dismissed Sarfaraz Khan who was caught trying to scoop the ball over the boundary. Mark Wood ended up with figures of 5-13 and was well supported by Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi, who also bowled well and ended up with two wickets each and helped LSG register their first win of the season.
