IPL 2024: Mayank's fiery spell, Krunal's cameo and other top moments from LSG's win against PBKS

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bounced back from their 20-run loss against Rajasthan Royals (RR), beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) by a similar margin on Saturday to register their first victory of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL).

Rajasthan had restricted Lucknow to 173/6 after posting 193/4 in Jaipur last Sunday. The scores six days later, against Punjab, would be somewhat similar, with LSG posting 199/8 in the first match of the season at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium before restricting their opponents to 178/5. Both matches witnessed the chasing team fall well short of the target despite having plenty of wickets in hand.

The match was in itself quite an eventful one, especially due to the exploits of one Mayank Yadav on debut as well as all-rounder Krunal Pandya. KL Rahul also made headlines during the match, but not for the usual reasons involving his batting or his glovework.

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Looking back at the events of the 11th match of the 17th season of the IPL, we bring to you some of the top moments from the LSG-PBKS game:

Rahul named ‘Impact Player’

The 17th season of the IPL has witnessed plenty of captaincy changes, from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Hardik Pandya becoming captains of Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians respectively to Shubman Gill filling the void left behind by Pandya at Gujarat Titans.

One wondered if Lucknow Super Giants were joining the trend as well, albeit a week into the season instead of before it, when West Indian wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran walked out for the toss with his Punjab Kings counterpart Shikhar Dhawan. Especially since KL Rahul was named in the XI as well, and had also walked out to open the innings.

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Turns out it was head coach Justin Langer and the team management’s plan to make Rahul an ‘Impact Player’ and let Pooran lead the side in his absence, given he’s only just returned from yet another injury layoff.

Pandya’s explosive cameo

Krunal Pandya hasn’t been hogging the limelight as much as brother Hardik has in recent months, especially after the latter’s high-profile transfer to Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans, but has managed to find his way back into the headlines with his performances in the ongoing IPL season.

After conceding just 19 runs in four overs against Rajasthan last Sunday, Pandya shone with the bat against Punjab on Saturday, smashing 43 off just 22 deliveries including four fours and two sixes to help LSG end their innings on a high and set a challenging 200-run target for PBKS.

Dhawan brings up 51st IPL fifty

Dhawan, whose last competitive appearance before IPL 2024 was in IPL 2023, has been steadily improving his numbers in the ongoing season. The senior opener managed to get off to promising starts in each of the last two matches, scoring 45 off 37 balls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the latter’s den.

On Saturday, the 38-year-old not only managed to begin on a strong note in Punjab’s chase of 200, but ended up going past the half-century on this occasion — for the first time this season, and for the 51st time overall in the league. And it was his presence that gave Punjab hope of collecting their second win in three outings even as wickets slowly began to tumble from one end.

Mayank sets Ekana alight

The primary reason why this match has gone viral on social media and on the mainstream news media is for the sensational debut of Delhi and Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mayank Yadav, who ended up bagging the Player of the Match award for his haul of 3/27 in his maiden IPL outing, his heroics playing a key role in helping Lucknow secure their first win of the season.

More than his bowling figures however, it was the red-hot pace with which he had bowled throughout Saturday evening, consistently hitting speeds around the 90 mph range, that made both experts and fans believe that Indian cricket might just have stumbled upon something really special and discovered a future pace superstar.

Yadav, who couldn’t play the 2023 season due to injury, was introduced in the 10th over and made an instant impact by bowling a delivery measuring 147.1 kmph to Jonny Bairstow. He would touch the 150kmph mark just two balls later, but it was his thunderbolt of a delivery measuring 155.8kmph to Dhawan that really got the on-air commentators as well as netizens buzzing.

Mayank helped bring Lucknow back into the game by dismissing Bairstow and breaking his opening partnership with Dhawan that had started to worry Lucknow at the halfway stage. He would then account for the explosive Prabhsimran Singh, who had struck two sixes and a four after coming in as an Impact Player, as well as Jitesh Sharma to help tilt the balance of the match in Lucknow’s favour.

Mohsin ends Punjab’s hopes

It was left-arm seamer Mohsin Khan’s twin-strike in the 17th over however, that may have sealed the deal in Lucknow’s favour. Especially since the Uttar Pradesh bowler got the well-set Dhawan caught-behind in the second ball of the over. Punjab needed Dhawan to stick around long enough and get the team over the line, but his exit would’ve greatly dented PBKS’ morale.

All-rounder Sam Curran, an individual just as capable of tonking the ball out of the park from the word go, was dismissed for a golden duck the very next ball. And to make matters even worse, fellow English all-rounder Liam Livingstone wasn’t quite able to smash the ball out of the park as frequently as he would’ve liked, and only began the middle the ball once the target was well beyond their reach.

Mohsin finished with figures of 2/34 while Livingstone remained unbeaten on 28 off 17 balls as Punjab finished well short in the end.