New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel showered praise on England tearaway pacer Mark Wood, who picked up the first fifer of the IPL 2023 season, and applauded the plans he executed in rattling Delhi Capitals batters, especially with the way he got out opener Prithvi Shaw.
In defence of 193 for the Lucknow Super Giants, Wood, playing just his second IPL game, delivered one of the most scorching spells of fast-bowling in T20 cricket in recent times, as his 5/14 left Delhi in disarray and restricting them to 143/9, to set up a 50-run victory for his team.
At the start of his spell, Wood began by softening Shaw with the bouncer. After two more back of the length deliveries in the fifth over, Wood went fuller and stormed through Shaw’s defence with a beautiful in-ducker and then got out Mitchell Marsh on the very next ball in the same fashion to leave Delhi in trouble early in the game.
“We must applaud Mark Wood’s plans and the way he dismissed Prithvi Shaw, as we have seen him get out like this in previous IPLs and international matches as well where there is always a gap between his bat and pad, and Wood bowled at him in that length continuously. You are given 24 bowls in total and taking five wickets in a T20 match is equivalent to scoring 100 runs,” Patel was quoted as saying by JioCinema.
Apart from Wood, West Indies all-rounder Kyle Mayers slammed an explosive 38-ball 73 and was well-supported by cameos of 36 and 18 from Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni.
Suresh Raina, the former India cricketer who won four IPL titles with Chennai Super Kings, highlighted how Pooran and Badoni proved to be crucial in getting a match-winning score for Lucknow.
“The way he (Kyle Mayers) was hitting the ball, powerful shots off Axar Patel and Kuldeep (Yadav), who are both very successful bowlers, was truly admirable. It was a good fifty to score. In spite of that, the way Badoni and Nicholas Pooran finished the game, with these small cameos of 25–30 runs helped them get from 155 runs to near 190 runs (193),” Raina said.
Patel also pointed out how Delhi missed their star player Rishabh Pant during the match against Lucknow.
“Delhi must have missed Rishabh Pant – the batter, the wicketkeeper and the captain. You cannot replace a player like him. But from Delhi’s perspective, they will need to figure out who will come and inspire them after this huge defeat. This will put a huge dent on their net run rate as well,” he said.
Lucknow’s next match in IPL 2023 will be against Chennai Super Kings at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday, while Delhi will play their first home game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium against defending champions Gujarat Titans on Tuesday.
–IANS
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