The pint-sized Prabhsimran Singh packed a mean punch in his enthralling 34-ball 69 as Punjab Kings outclassed Lucknow Super Giants by 8 wickets with a commanding all-round performance in an IPL game in Lucknow on Monday.
Chasing a target of 172 on a track that offered grip and variable bounce, Punjab were off to a rollicking start, courtesy Prabhsimran, who hammered the LSG bowling attack into submission in the first 10 overs with nine fours and three sixes, to effectively kill the contest.
It was then a cakewalk for his skipper Shreyas Iyer (52 not out off 30 balls) with the chase being completed in 16.2 overs to increase the woes for an out-of-form LSG captain Rishabh Pant, who looked bereft of ideas.
Young Nehal Wadhera (43 not out off 25 balls) after initial struggle also picked up some confidence boosting easy runs towards the end.
The match was won and lost in the two Powerplays where the hosts were outplayed.
In the batting Powerplay, they were down to 39 for 3 after losing three of their top-order players, leaving the middle-order with a lot of heavy-lifting to do.
It was a collective bowling effort from Punjab, be it pacers Arshdeep Singh (3/43 in 4 overs), Lockie Ferguson (/126 in 3 overs), Marco Jansen (1/28 in 4 overs) or spinners Glenn Maxwell (1/22 in 3 overs) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/36 in 4 overs).
When Punjab Kings batted, Prabhsimran clobbered the pacers and spinners alike scoring 45 of the 62 runs that the visitors picked up in their first six overs.
LSG seem to have the weakest bowling attack in this IPL. With Mayank Yadav unavailable indefinitely and main spinner Ravi Bishnoi having an uncharacteristically poor season, the team’s bowling options seem to be underperforming. The attack, featuring Shardul Thakur—who was unsold initially—and a frequently inconsistent Avesh Khan, has yet to inspire much confidence.
Earlier, on a track that seemed two-paced with variable bounce, Punjab Kings bowlers led by the ever-dependable Arshdeep knocked off the LSG top order within first six overs and contributions from in-form Nicholas Pooran (44 off 30) and Ayush Badoni (41 off 33 balls) wasn’t enough to put a challenging score on board.
Credit should also be given to skipper Iyer, whose intelligent field placements also ensured that LSG were never in control of the situation.
While some deliveries gripped the surface and the odd ball bounced a bit more than expected, Pooran was the only batter who seemed at ease, comfortably handling both pacers and spinners alike.
But to Iyer’s credit, he started with a deep extra cover in the Powerplay just to prevent the southpaw from teeing off with a cover drive.
For LSG skipper Rishabh Pant (2), the highest all-time buy from an IPL auction, it was his third consecutive failure and the embarrassing manner of his dismissal won’t amuse him one bit. It was a rank long-hop from Maxwell, which he tried to slog behind square but could only find Chahal at short fine leg.
This was after Arshdeep got rid off Mitchell Marsh (0) in the very first over with a delivery that bounced trifle extra with the opener closing his bat face. Aiden Markram (28 off 18 balls) started off well but Ferguson breached his defence with a quick nip-backer.
Pooran looked in ominous touch as he smashed Chahal for a couple of sixes but the wily out-of-favour leg-spinner had the last laugh. After being hammered for 15 in his first over, he bowled one slightly wide out of Pooran’s hitting arc and he holed out in the deep. The Windies man hit five fours and two sixes.
Badoni hit three sixes and a four but could never force the momentum in LSG’s favour and it was Abdul Samad’s (27 off 12 balls) cameo that got them past 170-run mark.