Kyle Mayers made a grand entry on IPL stage with a scintillating 38-ball-73 to lead Lucknow Super Giants to an imposing 193/6 against Delhi Capitals in their season-opener in Lucknow on Saturday. (More Cricket News) | (Scorecard)
Kyle Mayers capitalised on a dropped ca🥃🔥tch by Khaleel Ahmed, opening his arms to smash 7 sixes and 2 fours in his blitzkrieg innings. Nicholas Pooran played a cameo inning of 36 from 21 deliveries to add to the total.
Kyle Mayers made a grand entry on IPL stage with a scintillating 38-ball-73 to lead Lucknow Super Giants to an imposing 193/6 against Delhi Capitals in their season-opener in Lucknow on Saturday. (More Cricket News) | (Scorecard)
The left-hander from Barbados, who was included in absence of South Afric൩an opener Quinton De Kock, made Capital🔯s pay a heavy price for dropping him on 14, by blazing his way to a 28-ball fifty as his knock had as many as seven sixes.
Deepak Hooda (17, 18b) at the other end was a mere spectator to Mayers' fury as they stitched 79 runs in 42 b🐽alls to accelerate the run-rate in the middle overs.
The duo🌱 departed in the 💖space of one ball, while Marcus Stoinis (12) got out cheaply in the middle overs.
But LSG maintained the momentum with Nicholas Pooran (36; 21b) and Krunal Pandya (15 not out; 13b) taking the charge, before Ayush Badoni's mini assault (18; 7b, 1x4, 2x6) and a last ball six from 'Impact Substitute' Krishnappa Gowtham yielded 22 runs f🍨rom the 20th over bowled by Chetan Sakariya (2/53).
The last five ov𓄧ers produced 66 runs, primarily due to Pooran and Badoni using long handles to good effect.
Playing their first-ever home game since joining IPL last year, LSG were in a spot of bother with DC bowlers making full use o💧f the two-paced tr🐻icky Ekana wicket after opting to bowl.
♐It took LSG openers, KL Rahul and Mayers, 16 balls to get going and hit their first boundary.
They were reduced to 19/1 inside four overs when left-arm pacer Sakariya prolonged Rahul's lean patch by dismissing the Ind꧟ian opener with a slower one. It was Sakariya's third ♛dismissal of Rahul in four IPL match-ups.
But things soon tilted in the home team's favour after Khaleel Ahmed grassed a sitter off Mayers in the last over ꦯthe Powerplay.
Mayers unleashed his fury against debutant Mukesh Kumar, crunching him for two massive sixes in the very next over.
There was no stopping Mayers as he co🦄ntinued his assault on their frontline spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav in his knock studded with seven sixes and two fours.
Pate💙l, however, had the last laugh when he cleaned up Mayers with a ball that turned almost square from an imaginary fifthꦇ stump line.
Thereafter, it was his West Indies teammate Nicholas P♑ooran who seized the momentum in his 21-ball 36 (2X4, 3X6) as he along with Krunal Pandya kept the run flow.
Delhi were also let down by theﷺir ground fielding. For them, Khaleel was the pick of the bowlers as he made a fine comeback from injury to return 2/30 with wickets of Stoin꧅is and Pooran, latter caught smartly by Prithvi Shaw.