LSG BEAT DELHI
Hooda and skipper Rahul take them towards play-offs with a six-run win
PTI /
Unheralded Uttar Pradesh left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan put up an exceptional bowling performance as Lucknow Super Giants beat Delhi Capitals by six runs on Sunday, thereby taking a giant stride towards qualifying for the IPL play-offs. It was skipper KL Rahul's 77 off 51 balls and newly promoted Deepak Hooda's 52 off 34 balls that propelled LSG to an imposing 195 for 3 despite stuttering towards the end of the innings.
In reply, Mohsin (4/16 in 4 overs) got breakthroughs exactly when things seemed to spiral out of control as Delhi Capitals finally managed 189 for 7 in the end. LSG now have 14 points from 10 games and another win out of the remaining four games would seal a play-off spot for them considering 16 being the magic number in most years. For DC, things get really tough from here on as 8 points from nine games mean that they might have to win four out of their remaining five games which looks to be an uphill task with this bowling attack which has been defensive on most occasions. At least two among Rishabh Pant (42 off 24 balls), Mitchell Marsh (37 off 20 balls) and Rovman Powell (35 off 21 balls) needed to score in excess of 60 to make a match of it. But Mohsin, who produced disconcerting bounce with his mostly back of the length balls, occasionally slipped in a fuller blockhole delivery as his victims included all the big names like David Warner (3), Pant, Powell and Shardul Thakur.
The way he set up Pant showed Mohsin's cricketing smarts as he bowled short and wide making the DC skipper desperate to reach for the deliveries.
Earlier, Rahul once again anchored the innings with a well-crafted 77 in company of an imperious Deepak Hooda but LSG didn't seize the initiative completely, despite managing a challenging 195 for 3.
The last five overs yielded 50 runs despite the platform set by the duo, largely due to Marcus Stoinis (17 no off 16 balls) not being able to connect the big shots. Rahul and Hooda (52 of 34 balls) added 95 runs for the second wicket but more importantly nullified the DC spin threat, taking the duo of Kuldeep Yadav (0/29 in 3 overs), Lalit Yadav (0/16 in 1 over) and partially Axar (0/25 in 4 overs) to the task. Shardul (3/40 in 4 overs) had best figures for DC, he didn't actually pose any threat to the batters and it didn't help matters that Chetan Sakariya (0/44 in 4 overs) sprayed it all over and was taken to the cleaners, especially by the LSG captain. Rahul didn't always look smooth during the initial part when he tried to play himself in but once he was able to execute the big hits, he indeed looked a different player.