Lucknow: New logo, new jersey and even new vigor, but nothing worked out the way Lucknow Super Giants would have hoped for on Wednesday. The same old story repeated itself for Rishabh Pant and Co, who lost to Delhi Capitals by six wickets on their home turf in the season opener, marking their third successive defeat against them.
Even after losing four quick wickets for just 26 runs, including skipper Axar Patel, Delhi Capitals managed to beat the hosts. Local boy Sameer Rizvi struck his second half-century for DC, while stitching together an unbeaten match-winning 119-run partnership for the fifth wicket with South African Tristan Stubbs, who also slammed his first fifty of the new IPL season.
KL Rahul departed on the very first ball for a duck off Mohammed Shami, while Pathum Nissanka edged a difficult one to Rishabh Pant off Prince Yadav soon after. Nitish Rana and Axar Patel couldn’t last too long either and departed in quick succession. But Rizvi (70*, 47b, 5×4, 4×6) and Stubbs (39, 32b, 3×4, 1×6) anchored the innings well as DC chased down 145 in 17.1 overs.
Earlier, LSG threw up a surprise by pushing Rishabh Pant to open the innings with Mitchell Marsh and dropping tearaway pacer Mayank Yadav from even the list of substitutes before being bundled out for 141 in 18.4 overs.
LSG suffered a dramatic collapse after being put to bat first on a red soil turf at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium but the dream start turned into a nightmare as they lost six wickets for just 65 runs in the middle overs.
The match, witnessed by a vociferous home crowd, showcased T20 cricket’s unpredictability as LSG’s batters were undone by fine bowling, especially by pacers Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan, who took three wickets each.
The innings began steadily, but the turning point arrived early after Rishabh Pant’s unfortunate run-out off Mukesh Kumar. In the fourth over, Mitchell Marsh drilled a straight drive off a good length ball back down the pitch. The bowler got a hand to it, deflecting the ball onto the stumps. Pant, backing up too far, was caught outside.
Axar struck next, dismissing Aiden Markram, LSG’s highest run getter last season, in the sixth over. Bowling quicker and dragging the length back, Axar pushed one in with the arm. The right-hander (11) missed the variation as the ball crashed into the stumps.
LSG’s middle order imploded. In the seventh over, T Natarajan angled a length ball outside off to Ayush Badoni (0), who failed to connect properly and KL Rahul took it safely behind the stumps. Two overs later, Lungi Ngidi produced magic with a leg-cutter. This time Nicholas Pooran, advancing to finesse a full ball off-side, was foxed by the slower floater that gripped and rattled the stumps.
Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, made full use of his local knowledge to dominate. In the 10th over, his teasing googly spun away from Marsh and induced a mistimed shot that Glenn Stubbs pouched at mid-off. Marsh’s 35 (28b, 2×4, 3×6) kept LSG alive. Kuldeep also had Mukul Choudhary (14), who chipped a leading edge back to the bowler.
Though Abdul Samad tried to lift LSG’s spirits with a 25-ball 36 (3×4, 1×6), he didn’t get adequate support from the other end and the side couldn’t even play full quota of overs.
