KL Rahul was yet to get off the mark at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in IPL 2022, having departed for nought against Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals in his previous appearances at the venue.
However, on Sunday, the Lucknow Super Giants captain came up with a well-compiled unbeaten 103 (off 62 balls) that laid the platform for his team’s comprehensive 36-run victory over the bottom-placed Mumbai Indians, who suffered their eighth straight defeat in the ongoing edition.
Rahul’s unbeaten hundred helped Lucknow to 168 for 6 after they were put in to bat on a dry Wankhede pitch. During the run chase, barring captain Rohit Sharma (39) and young Tilak Varma (38), no other Mumbai batsman, including the otherwise consistent and spirited Suryakumar Yadav, showed any application or zeal to try and put up some resistance.
Even a finisher of the stature of Kieron Pollard limped to 19 off 20 balls to make matters even more difficult for the five-time champions. The Lucknow bowlers, though, couldn’t have been happier as they limited Mumbai to 132 for 8 and comfortably reached home.
With this win, Lucknow moved up to fourth in the standings with 10 points, while Mumbai are all but out of the play-offs race.
Perfect game
This was Rahul’s second century in the ongoing IPL and, incidentally, his previous hundred too had come against Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium back on April 16. And in that game too, he had remained not out on 103.
He also took a fine catch alongside making a good save or two in the outfield, capping off what was a perfect game for him.
Although Rahul was composed right through during his yet another excellent knock, the dry Wankhede pitch made run-scoring a tad difficult with the other Lucknow batsmen unable to make any significant contributions. From a well-placed 85 for 1 in the 12th over, Lucknow slumped to 121 for 5 in over No.16.
But that’s when Rahul lifted his game up and with young Ayush Badoni (14) giving him some much-needed support, the skipper rode his exquisite timing to unleash some superb shots that gave Lucknow’s innings a bit of momentum in the slog overs. Rahul couldn’t really cash in against Jasprit Bumrah (1/31), but off the first ball of the final over of Lucknow’s innings, he pulled Riley Meredith for a huge six to reach three figures.
Disciplined bowling
Mumbai’s inept showing with the bat notwithstanding, the disciplined bowling from almost all Lucknow bowlers certainly has to be credited. They took the field without pacer Avesh Khan, one of their strike bowlers who was out with a side strain. But Avesh’s replacement Mohsin Khan (1/27) did a pretty decent job, accounting for Dewald Brevis.
Krunal Pandya (3/19) took the key wicket of Rohit, but the one who really stood out among the Lucknow bowlers was Sri Lankan quick Dushmantha Chameera.
He was the only Lucknow bowler to go wicketless in this game, but Chameera was accurate enough in terms of his line and length to concede only 14 runs off his four overs. That made a big difference in the end.
