KL Rahul scored his second century of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season as Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) by 36 runs in the 37th league round match played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday night.
KL Rahul remained unbeaten on 103 which came from 62 balls with the help of 12 fours and 4 sixes as he powered his side Lucknow Super Giants to a strong total of 168/6 in their 20 overs batting first. In their reply, Mumbai Indians produced yet another ordinary performance with the bat, finishing at 132/8 to lose the game by 36 runs.
The defeat to Lucknow Super Giants was the 8th in a row for the five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians, who have remained at the bottom of the points table as they are yet to record a victory in the tournament.
Mumbai Indians, who are all considered the most successful team in the tournament history, have now lost all of their 8 matches so far and are set to miss out on a spot in the final four teams that will play the IPL 2022 knockouts.
At the same time, Lucknow Super Giants were able to move up to the 4th spot in the IPL 2022 points table having recorded their fifth victory in 8 matches so far while losing 3 to get to 10 points.
KL Rahul’s century was the only bright spot for Lucknow Super Giants in their batting innings as the next best score came from Manish Pandey, who scored 22 runs from as many deliveries hitting one six.
The LSG opening batsman Quinton De Kock made 10 while the dependable Deepak Hooda (10) and Ayush Badoni (14) were the other key contributors in the Lucknow Super Giants innings.
Mumbai Indians were cautious at the start as they did not show any rush in getting their runs with the left-handed wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan scoring 8 from as many as 20 balls without hitting any boundary, while their captain Rohit Sharma tried to play a long innings by scoring 39 from 31 balls with the help of five boundaries and a six.
However, the other key batsmen in the Mumbai Indians’ side disappointed, as Dewald Brevis fell for 3, Suryakumar Yadav made 7, Tilak Varma made 38 from 25 balls whereas the experienced West Indies player and one of Mumbai Indians’ most successful players, Kieron Pollard, made only 19 from 20 balls.
For Lucknow Super Giants, the former Mumbai Indians all-rounder Krunal Pandya took 4-0-19-3 whereas the others in Mohsin Khan, Jason Holder, Ravi Bishnoi and Ayush Barwani claimed 1 wicket each.
LSG’s Sri Lankan fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera was also impressive as he returned with 4-0-14-0, exploiting the conditions that were on offer at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday night.