Badoni’s late flourish lifts LSG to 167 after Kuldeep show

The Capitals left-armer spinner’s triple strike leaves Rahul’s men tottering at 94 for seven, but an unbeaten half-century by the late middle-order batter and his 73-run stand for the eighth-wicket with Arshad guide the side to a competitive total

t’s not for nothing that Kuldeep Yadav is considered one of the best in the business. After being sidelined for a fortnight due to a groin niggle, the leftarm wrist spinner returned to action in style with a three for 20 as Delhi Capitals restricted Lucknow Super Giants to 167 for seven.

Coming on the back of three consecutive wins, Super Giants opted to bat at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium on Friday, but lost the momentum midway as Kuldeep claimed two consecutive wickets in his opening over and followed it up with the big scalp of captain K.L. Rahul.

The home team, however, rode on a late flourish by Ayush Badoni (55 n.o., 35b, 5x4, 1x6) and Arshad Khan (20 n.o., 16b 2x4) to add 73runs — the highest eighthwicket stand in the history of the tournament — and put up a competitive total.

It was quite a decent start though by Super Giants as Quinton de Kock played a handy cameo along with captain Rahul and built a 28run opening partnership before fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed drew first blood, trapping the former leg before.

Despite a string of low scores, the LSG teammanagement showed faith in Devdutt Padikkal, but his struggles continued as he looked jittery during his sixball stay at the crease before being trapped leg before Khaleel.

IWhile Khaleel dropped a return catch of Marcus Stoinis early on, the seasoned Australian allrounder failed to capitalise and was dismissed by Kuldeep off the third ball of his opening over. The seasoned spinner followed it up by uprooting the offstump of the inform Nicholas Pooran in the next delivery, leaving LSG in tatters.

Capitals tightened the noose further by claiming three quick wickets of Rahul, Impact Player Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya, before Badoni played some sensible cricket. He saw off

SANDEEP SAXENA

EMMANUAL YOGINI ◣ India captain Rohit Sharma said he plans to continue playing for a few more years. “I haven’t really thought about retirement. But, I don’t know where life takes you. I am playing well at the moment. I really want to win that World Cup,” he said in a YouTube chat show Breakfast With Champions.

Saviour and sizzler: Badoni came good when LSG needed the most while Kuldeep stifled and struck with elan.