IPL 2022, DC vs LSG Highlights: Lucknow Super Giants beat Delhi Capitals by six runs

KL Rahul reaches for it, with his right hand coming off the bat after he completes the shot and he clears the boundary. 

Axar has dismissed Rahul thrice in the past and so this is aimed at the LSG captain. However, Rahul just takes a single off the very first ball so no flare-ups for now. 

De Kock ends the second over with a six and a four. A little wide from Sakariya and De Kock goes for the aerial cover drive. 16 runs off the second over, LSG 22/0. 

That's the first maximum of the day and it has come off the bat of Quinton de Kock. Waited for it and smacked Chetan Sakariya over deep-midwicket. 

A single each for the batters after that lucky four from De Kock. There was a small appeal from Mustafizur after the ball took De Kock's pads and went behind, where Pant somewhat messed up his take. 

Mustafiqur angles one into the left hander and De Kock offers the straight bat. The ball goes to that gap between bat and pad and takes an inside edge before darting past the stumps for four. The Fizz was very close to getting a wicket off the very first ball. 

Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul are in the middle for LSG, Mustafizur Rahman has the ball in his hands for Delhi Capitals. 

Teams batting first and chasing have won five matches each at the Wankhede. With this being a day match as well, there will be no dew coming into play so conditions may not change too much through the course of this game. 

Pandya has taken two and three wickets in the last two games he played for LSG. “I read the wicket well comparatively (in the previous game). Felt if I pulled my lengths back, I have always varied my pace which has been my strength, so I backed that and was aware of how I can use the wicket to my maximum ability. I was playing a lot of shorter format cricket in the last 2-3 years. Batsmen are going hard whenever you bowl in this format, you just want to contain and want to squeeze out the overs. In that process, I was just trying to dart in the ball and was just varying the pace. With my mindset, if I develop some skills where I can impart some spin or if I am able to get the bounce, I'll be more effective and more dangerous as a bowler.”

We don't mind because we were in two minds. The wicket is looking on the slower side but this is a new wicket and no team has played on this wicket. We are always trying to improve the way we play. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you got to take positives and move forward. We are playing with the same team. He (Nortje) is coming off nicely after the practice, he didn't play enough cricket before coming into the tournament but he's getting there.

“We are going to bat first. Looks a good wicket, put some runs on the board and defend it. The last couple of games, we have defended quite well, so that gives us a bit a of confidence as a team. Try and go out there, put a par total on the board and ask our bowlers to defend it again. Mistakes do happen no matter how long you play this game. We just had an honest chat and everybody realises that we could have been a little bit more smarter. It happens under pressure, just spoke about it and guys are honest enough to accept their mistake and they've learnt from it. Hopefully we can come out here and assess the conditions really well and play smart cricket. Avesh Khan misses out and K Gowtham comes in. Avesh is just coming from a small injury, didn't want to play him back-to-back. The pitch looks quite dry, they have a couple of left-handers in their team. A good match-up, we thought KG would be a good option for us.”

Quinton de Kock(w), KL Rahul(c), Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jason Holder, Dushmantha Chameera, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi

Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Lalit Yadav, Rovman Powell, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya

KL Rahul says that LSG have made one change: Avesh Khan goes out for Krishnappa Gowtham. Rishabh Pant says that DC have gone with the same XI. 

LSG captain KL Rahul wins the toss, chooses to bat first. Third time this is happening this season, with Faf du Plessis doing the same yesterday. 

“A good pitch, 160-170 seems a good score,” says Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen says that a trend has emerged of spinners being braver in their speeds, which means they are being slower, and reaping rewards. He indicates that it may not matter whether a team bats or bowls first after winning the toss. 

LSG may have won their last match by 20 runs against PBKS but Rahul admitted that he was left fuming by the shot selection of some of his batters. "I was fuming after the first innings because it was stupid cricket with the bat, the experienced guys in the team. It does happen but we did talk about it at the timeout that it's a tricky pitch but 160 is something we can put on the board. But a couple of bad shots and the runout didn't help. I was unhappy with that middle phase but this game has been completely about the bowlers," he said. 

Since being dismissed for just four runs against LSG, Warner's scores have read 61, 66, 60 not out, 28 and 42. He has scored 261 runs thus far in six innings at a strike rate of 158.18.

DC were restricted to 149/3 and Quinton de Kock's 80 off 52 balls led LSG to a six-wicket win. A lot has changed since then, most prominently the fact that DC's opening partnership of Prithvi Shaw and David Warner has well and truly taken off. 

LSG have tried out four options in nine games in the No.3 position and only twice have batters in that position scored over 30 runs. 

Kuldeep is second in the Purple Cap table with 17 wickets in eight innings. The fact that no other DC player has bagged a player of the match award apart from Kuldeep this season shows how dependent they have come to be on him. 

LSG have been helped by the consistency with which they have bowled and fielded this season. Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan Dushmantha Chameera, Jason Holder and Ravi Bishnoi have all stepped up at some point throughout the season, making LSG one of the most difficult to score against. 

DC have won and lost alternatively in their last six matches. Their dominant win in the first match against Mumbai Indians made it look like DC will enjoy another run to the final but that hasn't been the case since. They currently sit sixth, having won and lost four matches each. 

Jos Buttler is head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the batters in the IPL this season while Rahul, one could say, has been the best of the rest. While he has scored two centuries this season, it is to be noted that he has also got two single digit scores, including a duck in the last five innings. The fact remains, though that he has scored 374 runs at a strike rate of 143.84 and average of 53.43 and dismissing him will take DC a long way in their quest for victory. 

Delhi Capitals have seen it all this season and we are hardly past the halfway stage of the league phase. They have seen a Covid-19 outbreak in their camp and a controversy that ended with punishments for their captain and members of the coaching staff in addition to some close results that have not gone their way. Now, they face a Lucknow Super Giants team who have a formidable bowling attack and a captain who has scored two centuries in the last four matches.