Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) stayed in the hunt for a spot in the IPL 2023 playoffs when they beat five-time winners Mumbai Indians by five runs in match number 63 at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium on Tuesday. All-rounder Marcus Stoinis was the star of the win. He hit a brilliant 89 not out off 47 balls with 8 huge sixes and 4 fours to help the home team come back from being 35 for 3 in the 7th over.
Stoinis took a while to get comfortable, but when MI pacer Chris Jordan bowled the 18th over, he went off the rails. The Aussie all-rounder was on 45 after 35 balls, but then he went into “Hulk mode” and hit Jordan for three fours and two sixes in one over.
After LSG batted first for 20 overs, Stoinis’s blast helped them get to 177-3. In response, MI got off to a great start. Rohit Sharma, the captain, and Ishan Kishan, the opening batsman, put up 90 runs for the first wicket in less than 10 overs. But when Rohit was out for 37 runs off 25 balls, it started a mini-collapse, and they lost 5 wickets and 55 runs.
All-rounder Tim David tried to keep MI in the game by hitting 32 runs off 19 balls, including three sixes. However, LSG bowler Mohsin Khan only gave up 5 runs in the last over to protect 11 runs.
“This is an exciting time for Mohsin. Since the last IPL, he had been hurt. It was great to come in late and bowl the last over. It was almost perfect. A lot of little things work out for you. “We bowled well enough to keep us in the game, and the spinners and Mohsin had a couple of good overs at the end,” Stoinis said at the post-game show.
The Australian all-rounder said that different people in the LSG team stepped up when captain KL Rahul got hurt. “Many different people have helped us win. We can’t see KL because he hurt himself, but other people are standing up. KP is a good leader. “GG and Andy have also done a great job,” Stoinis said.
With 15 points from 13 games, LSG is now in third place on the IPL 2023 Points Table, taking the place of MI. With 17 points, they can make the playoffs if they beat Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match on Saturday.
