Stoinis, Mayers stars in LSG’s all-ages show

Lucknow Supergiants 257 for 5 (Stoinis 72, Mayers 54, Pooran 45, Badoni 43, Rabada 2-52) Punjab kings 201 (Taide 66, Thakur 4-37, Naveen 3-30, Bishnoi 2-41) by 56 runs

Mayers gets the party started

The entertainment began when Mayers batted down Arshdeep Singh for four fours in the second over. He then deposited a free hit from debutant Gurnoor Brar for six over midwicket. When PBKS introduced spin, Mayers went 6, 4, 6 off Sikandar Raza in the fifth. He was sent off with one ball left in the power play, but by then had already scored 54 – the most by a batsman in the first six overs of the season. LSG ended that phase at 72 for 2.

Unstoppable Stoinis

In seven previous innings this season, Stoinis had been sacked for 21 or less five times, including a duck in his last game against Chennai Super Kings. But once he got into his rhythm, LSG flourished. He had hit 65 from 30 in a successful 213 chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and here in Mohali, Stoinis was just as brutal.

It started with a free hit on the second legal ball from the eighth over, which Stoinis tapped to Gurnoor for six. The next ball was hit for four and Stoinis was gone. In the tenth over, he piloted Sam Curran for four runs behind; and when the bowler attempted a slower delivery, he put it away with a short pull of the arm.

There was life in the 13th as Liam Livingstone’s left foot tickled the rope as he caught Stoinis on the far border, at Rahul Chahar. Stoinis quickly reached fifty off 31 balls, his innings of 72 eventually featuring five sixes.

Badoni and Pooran keep the fireworks going

The bowlers had no respite when Stoinis was not on strike. Badoni set up 89 for the third wicket with Stoinisk, hitting three fours and three sixes as he rushed with a batting percentage of nearly 180. His dismissal in the 14th over put Pooran in the crease and he immediately hit Liam Livingstone for three successive fours. .

Pooran’s 45 of 19 contained only a lone six, a swivel pull that sailed high over a fine leg, but there were seven fours, most of them beautifully timed through holes in the outfield, with a late squeeze behind punt from Arshdeep popping out.

Taide fights, but PBKS fall way short

Submitted at number 3 after Shikhar Dhawan went off in the first over, Taide kept tagging along as his partners came and went. Taide made 31 of the 47 runs PBKS scored in the first five overs, including five boundaries, including a hoick on the leg side, a drive past mid-off and a slap through point from one Avesh Khan over, and he followed with a big six from Amit Mishra shortly after the power play.

Taide reached his 26-delivery half-century to start the tenth over, but by then PBKS’ required pace was already threatening to hit 16 over. And when Taide went off after a foul hit on Ravi Bishnoi, PBKS needed an almost impossible 131 from seven overs, with six wickets in hand.

Livingstone, Curran and Jitesh Sharma kept the boundary count rising – there were 67 in total, eventually the joint second most in an IPL game – but the match was over and dusted by then.