Mayank Yadav was expensive in his comeback game after sustaining a hip injury. Not just that, the young pacer walked off midway through his final over on Tuesday as the injury seems to have resurfaced and requires a scan, which Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer said.
Yet, the Super Giants emerged winners, beating Mumbai Indians by four wickets at the Ekana International Stadium, moving up to third in the standings with 12 points.
Left-arm spinner all-rounder Krunal Pandya wasn't even requird to bowl. Still, all that MI could post was a modest 144/7 after being put in by the Super Giants.
In reply, Lucknow lost Arshin Kulkarni (Impact Player for Mayank) in the first over, but Marcus Stoinis, having taken the prized scalp of Suryakumar Yadav earlier, played a quality knock (62 off 45 balls) on a pitch not so easy for strokeplay alongside stitching crucial partnerships of 58 with captain KL Rahul (28) and 41 with Deepak Hooda (18) for the second and third wickets, respectively.
Following Stoinis' dismissal off Mohammad Nabi, the dot balls (16 overall in his spell) from Jasprit Bumrah and MI captain Hardik Pandya's better showing with the ball — after his first-ball dismissal — made it a tad tighter for Lucknow in the end. However, Nicholas Pooran was there till the end to take his team with four balls to spare, much to the relief of Rahul, who should feel a bit better after the T20 World Cup snub.
Earlier, left-hander Nehal Wadhera (46 off 41 balls) dug in and Australian Tim David (35 not out off 18 balls) unleashed a few meaty blows in the end to somehow push MI past 140. Given the kind of shots both Rohit Sharma and Surya played which led to their dismissals inside the first three overs, especially with just over a month left for the T20 Cup, they certainly won't be happy about it.
With both batters playing loose strokes, MI were reeling at 28/4 after the Powerplay. By then itself, one could gauge which way the game was heading.
For Lucknow, quicks Mohsin Khan (2/36), who accounted for Rohit before castling Wadhera with a yorker, was impressive along with Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq.
