Another day, another match, same story! Home team losing an IPL match, again! Yes, the trend continued on Saturday as Lucknow Super Giants lost the IPL match to gutsy Punjab Kings in yet another last-over thriller at Ekana Stadium in UP’s capital city. This is the fourth time in a row that the home team has lost to the visitors. Earlier this week, MS Dhoni-led CSK were defeated by RR. It was followed by Punjab Kings losing to Gujarat Titans in Mohali. On Friday, SRH thrashed KKR by 23 runs to win at Eden.
Winning the toss, Punjab Kings asked Lucknow Super Giants to bat first. With their regular captain Shikhar Dhawan sitting out due to a shoulder niggle, Punjab Kings had a new skipper – Sam Curran. The most expensive overseas player of the 2022 auction, who was captaining a team for the first time in any format, did a fabulous job. He contributed with the ball and restricted the home team. His final figures were 3/31. Despite a good head start, LSG batters didn’t add much to the total. Skipper KL Rahul slammed his first half-century of IPL 2023 and went on to make 74.
But this wasn’t enough. Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis did add some runs but PBKS bowlers stifled the Giants to 159. After the match, KL Rahul said that they could have scored 10 more runs and that could have changed the game.
Chasing a target of 160, Punjab Kings lost their openers early in power play. Except for Sikandar Raza, who was declared player of the match, no Kings batter could play a significant inning.
Despite losing quick wickets in succession, Kings held the fort and Sharukh Khan’s blazing 23 off 10 deliveries guided the team to a two-wicket win. After this match, Punjab Kings have jumped two positions to number 4 in the IPL points table.