QdK blitz puts LSG up top

The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the fifty-third game of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The match was played in the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. Avesh Khan was adjudged to be the Man of the Match.

Hooda, de Kock gleam

Even before he got a chance to face a ball, Quinton de Kock ran his captain Kananur Lokesh Rahul out in the opening over. This accident occurred while de Kock was looking for a quick single, something he didn't bother with the rest of his innings. He was cruel against short and short-of-a-length balls, and bowlers tended to overcompensate when they went up, allowing him to drive balls. He was part of a 66-run powerplay, the team's second-largest of the season.

Deepak Hooda smashed Sunil Narine for a six in the fourth over and Anukul Roy for a four in the fifth, while de Kock took care of the pace in his 29-ball 50, which included three sixes and four fours.

Sluggishness

Narine entered the contest with seven wickets and an economy rate of under a run per ball. The pattern is clear: teams are playing him out and concentrating on the other KKR bowlers. When de Kock gets going, however, he sets his sights higher. He also attempted to hit Narine, but the ball gripped and flew to long-off instead of the planned extra-cover loft.

Bowlers began to use the middle of the pitch more frequently, with slower balls gripping as well. Krunal Pandya was held to a 27-ball inning in which he failed to reach a run-per-ball. Andre Russell aided Narine by getting Hooda and Pandya both with the short ball. Narine, Russell, and Tim Southee bowled 11 overs for 70 runs and four wickets among them.

Final result

Marcus Stoinis elected to be cautious in the first half of the death overs. Only one boundary was hit in overs 16, 17 and 18, bowled by Narine, Shivam Mavi, and Russell, and it was off an edge. The Super Giants appeared to be on the verge of underachieving at 142 for 4.

However, the end of the nineteenth changed everything. Mavi had a nightmare over, bowling to a short leg-side boundary after allowing just 20 in three overs. Stoinis struck three sixes in the first three balls, two in the slot and one over the leg side. The fourth delivery was again in the slot, but Stoinis was unable to get the required elevation and was caught at deep midwicket.

Mavi bowled two more slot balls, which Jason Holder blasted over square leg and long-off, despite the addition of a new batter. In the final over, Southee brought things back a little, but the Super Giants knew they had plenty on the board.

Beginning

Mohsin Khan, possibly the most brilliant of a slew of young Indian quicks, got the defence off to a great start. He bowled at a fast tempo, got length balls to seam away, produced a full inswinger, and finished with a crisp and accurate bouncer final ball to dismiss Baba Indrajith. The Knight Riders had waited the longest for a first run in the IPL when they scored off the ninth delivery of the innings.

Dushmantha Chameera kept pace with Khan. He followed a backing-away Shreyas Iyer with a bouncer in the fourth over of the innings, who tried to drag him down and gave square leg an easy catch.

Jason Holder gave Aaron Finch the same treatment before Avesh Khan finished off the initial burst with a yorker to dismiss Nitish Raina, who was expecting a short ball. KKR were reduced to 25 for 4 in seven overs after the second wicket-maiden.

Russell piques KKR's interest... but only for short time

KKR were either going to win comfortably or not bat out their allocation with Russell coming to bat in the seventh over. There is no middle ground. Russell did hit five sixes and three fours in 19 balls, but a Khan short ball eventually soared to third man, who was perfectly set precisely for this.

Narine scored 22 off 12 as well, but the lower order crumbled.