Quinton de Kock showed imperious form in his 80 from 52 ball as Lucknow Super Giants defeated Delhi Capitals by six wickets for their third straight win in their debut IPL season here on Thursday. Delhi Capitals lost the road after a blistering knock from Prithvi Shaw (61 out of 31) to finish at 149 for 3 after Lucknow predictably decided to field first. With the resources Lucknow possesses 150 should have been a comfortable chase and the KL Rahul led side made sure it was, coming home with two balls left on a tricky surface.
De Kock was at his best when he shared a 73-point lead with opening partner Rahul (24 of 25).
The South African wicketkeeper batter was particularly tough against compatriot Anrich Nortje, who played his first game since November. The fit again pacer, who played his first IPL game in India, was crushed for three fours and a six by de Kock in a more than leaky 19 runs.
In what turned out to be a night to remember for Nortje, the South African pacesetter was later forced off the attack after bowling two hip-high no balls.
After Rahul’s fall, his team needed 76 of the last 10 overs. Collecting nine fours and two sixes, De Kock put the team on the cusp of victory with his second 50-plus score of the tournament.
As the pitch was not the easiest field to store, Lucknow struggled to finish the match with even the in-form Deepak Hooda and the veteran Krunal Pandya unable to find the big hits.
Lucknow finally managed to get the job done with young Ayush Badoni hitting the deciding four and a six over Shardul Thakur in the final skip.
Previously, Shaw’s knock was all class before Lucknow bounced back into the match with an impressive bowling performance. The young leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2/22) was the star for the new IPL entrants.
Returning to the franchise where he made his IPL debut in 2009, David Warner (4 of 12) struggled in his first innings of the season.
Off-spinner K Gowtham (1/23) got the ball over in the second and Shaw wouldn’t let it come to rest, sending a full ball over cover for his first four of the innings.
Jason Holder was on the receiving end in the next over when Shaw pulled him for a six over mid-wicket. Then it was the turn of pacer Avesh Khan, who was hammered three straight fours in the fourth over.
It looked like Shaw was hitting another surface as the others struggled around him. He used his quick hands to slice the ball and was equally quick to drive all over cover.
It was a promising power play for Capitals reaching 52 without a loss in six overs. Lucknow, however, fought back after the power play with wickets from Shaw, Warner and Rovman Powell (3 out of 10) in a space of 18 balls.
Shaw was caught behind Gowtham after hitting him for a straight six. Warner fell to a bad shot from Bishnoi and Powell saw his punches dislocated as he tried to get a googly off the young leg spinner, leaving Capitals at 74 for three in the 11th over.
It was up to skipper Rishabh Pant (39 out of 36) to bring the team to a respectable total and he did so in the company of Sarfaraz Khan (36 out of 28) who played his debut game for the franchise.
promoted
Pant mainly focused on the straight frontiers and Sarfaraz, without taking many risks, showed skills that have earned him a pocket full of runs in domestic cricket.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
