Lucknow, April 2 (IANS) A sensational 5-14 haul by English pacer Mark Wood after a blazing 38-ball 73 by Kyle Mayers helped Lucknow Super Giants thrash Delhi Capitals by 50 runs in their opening IPL 2023 match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, here on Saturday.
Mark Wood’s two morale-shattering blows in his first over sent back opener Prithvi Shaw (12) and Mitchell Marsh (0)as he left the Delhi Capitals rattled after they had made a good start in their chase of 194 in 20 overs, racing to 40 off four overs.
But before Mark Wood got into the act, Kyle Mayers blazed to a half-century with boundaries as he lifted LSG after they lost skipper K.L Rahul (8) with 19 runs on board. Mayers’ brilliant batting and breezy cameos by Nicholas Pooran (36) and Ayush Badoni (18) helped LSG post 193/6 in 20 overs, scoring 63 runs in the last five overs.
Mark Wood then got into the act and ended with figures of 4-0-14-5 as Delhi Capitals could manage only 143/9 in 20 overs, skipper David Warner’s 48-ball 56 going in vain as the rest of the batters failed to fire.
Lucknow skipper K.L Rahul brought Mark Wood in the fifth over and the English pacer made an immediate impact as he bowled Prithvi Shaw (12) and Mitchell Marsh (0) off successive deliveries, beating the batsmen with sheer pace.
He came back to claim the wickets of Sarfaraz Khan (4), Axar Patel (16) and Chetan Sakariya (4) — the last two wickets in the final over of the innings, getting his first fifer for Lucknow Super Giants as they restricted Delhi Capitals to 143/9 after Kyle Mayers had slammed a 38-ball 73 to help the hosts reach 193/6 in 20 overs. Wood just proved that there was no substitute for pace as he made all the difference for LSG.
Skipper David Warner, who won the toss and elected the bowl first, waged a lone battle for a 48-ball 56 as Delhi Capitals struggled to get going. Warner had expected the wicket to ease out in the second innings with the dew coming into play. But the pitch had a lot to offer to the bowlers and the LSG bowlers, especially Mark Wood bowled beautifully as they romped to victory.
Skipper David Warner held one end up with an uncharacteristic knock as he raised 38 runs for the fourth wicket partnership with Rilee Rossouw before the South African batter got out for 30 off 20 balls, hitting three fours and one six.
Rossouw, who smacked Ravi Bishnoi for two fours and a six in the 10th over and also pulled him to the midwicket boundary, was out in bizarre fashion, as he shuffled across to attempt a sweep Bishnoi but the ball hit the back of the bat on follow through and popped up for an easy catch by Kyle Mayers. Rovman Powell (1) and Aman Khan, the big-hitting Impact Player, was out for 4 as Delhi failed to make a chase of it.
Warner kept plodding around, completing his half-century off 45 deliveries as Delhi Capitals struggled to get the ball off the square. He had started by hitting Mayers for four off the third delivery of the opening over and handed the same treatment to Jaydev Unadkat, pulling him through midfield. He flicked Unadkat for another boundary in the same over and scored two more boundaries off the Saurashtra bowler in his second spell.
Earlier, Mayers, the 30-year-old big left-hander from Barbados, went ballistic after the initial period of cautious play as he hammered a flurry of sixes to slam a 38-ball 73 that propped up the LSG innings.
He started by hitting a wide, length ball by Mukesh Kumar 10-yards behind the rope in the seventh over and then struck an even bigger six a ball later, planting it into the second tier.
In the next over, Mayers struck Axar Patel for a four off the first delivery and then slog-swept the next one flat over the head of Mitchell Marsh, who had run five yards in from the backward square boundary and the ball sailed just over the rope.
The West Indies batter raced to his half-century off 28 balls with a six off Kuldeep Yadav and then smoked Axar Patel for back-to-back sixes in the 10th over. A massive flat-drive for a six off Kuldeep Yadav in the first delivery of the 11th over was his last big hit as he departed in the next over, cleaned up by Axar Patel with one that turned big from a good length and into the stumps as Mayers attempted a cut.
He added 79 runs for the second wicket partnership with Deepak Hooda, in which the latter contributed only 17 runs before holing out a drive to Warner off Kuldeep Yadav.
The Delhi bowlers used the conditions well and pulled back things a bit after the Mayers-fuelled LSG were 98/1 at the midway stage. Khaleel Ahmed, who was substituted by Aman Khan as Impact Player, claimed 2-30 from his four overs.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 193/6 in 20 overs (Kyle Mayers 73, Nicholas Pooran 36; Khaleel Ahmed 2-30) lost to Delhi Capitals 143/9 in 20 overs (David Warner 56, Rilee Rossouw 30; Mark Wood 5-14, Ravi Bishnoi 2-31, Avesh Khan 2-29) by 50 runs.
–IANS
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