It was another crazy cricketing action-packed Saturday in the Indian Premier League. In the first match of the doubleheader, Mumbai Indians were up against Lucknow Super Giants at the Brabourne Stadium. Rohit Sharma decided to field first after winning the toss. KL Rahul’s inspirational century almost single-handedly took LSG’s first innings total to 199.
Apart from Jaydev Unadkat and Jasprit Bumrah, MI’s bowling got real punishment by LSG batters. Coming onto chase MI lost both their openers and never looked like chasing down the target, eventually falling short by 18 runs.
Let’s look at the talking points from the first match of the day–
KL Rahul’s first ton this year comes in IPL 2022
The LSG skipper was at his brilliant best at the Brabourne to score his first ton in this year’s IPL. The 52 run opening stand with Quinton De Kock set the tone of LSG’s innings. After QDK’s departure in the sixth over, KL didn’t stop. His 60 ball 103 included nine boundaries and five sixes.
Rohit Sharma’s struggles continue
The MI skipper is going through a very poor run of form. Just after hitting a boundary, he gave away his wicket cheaply to Avesh Khan. Ishan Kishan also failed to spark.
Avesh Khan’s three-wicket haul
Another superb day in the office for the LSG pacer. Avesh picked up three crucial wickets including Rohit Sharma and dangerous Dewald Brevis at important times for LSG.
RCB overpowers DC by 16 runs
In the second game, Royal Challengers Bangalore were up against Delhi Capitals. DC skipper Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bowl. RCB lost their top order very early. But they had a certain DK in their ranks who is in his best possible form. DK delivers once again with a mesmerising unbeaten knock of 66 off just 34 balls to help RCB post 189. Delhi had Mitchell Marsh in the starting XI for the very first time this season. But the Aussie all-rounder looked off-colour in his first outing. Delhi eventually failed to chase the total.
Let’s look at the talking points from the second match of the day–
RCB’s lower-order batting
After losing the top order very early, RCB never looked like reaching beyond the 160 mark. Glenn Maxwell kept attacking from one end and made a superb 55. However, it was an unbeaten 97 run partnership between Shahbaz and DK that took their total to 189. DK scored 28 runs in the 18th over of Mustafizur Rahman to shift the momentum completely towards RCB.
A disappointing day for Captain Pant
The talented DC skipper took yet another wrong call by electing to bowl first with their lower-order batting hasn’t clicked in this tournament. Pant dropped DK when he was on a single-digit score. In the second innings, the Capitals needed a special knock from Rishabh, but the 24-year-old could only score 34. Delhi have now only two wins from their five games, on the other hand, RCB is flying high.
