The 42nd match of the Indian T20 league 2022 turned out to be a thrilling contest. Despite the match not being a high-scoring affair, it managed to entertain the fans. Lucknow defeated Punjab by 20 runs. Amidst all the hype around this game, it was the KL Rahul-led side who won their sixth game of this edition. Contrary to the expectations, the pitch wasn't really batting-friendly.
The ball wasn't coming onto the bat. Thus, Punjab won the toss and decided to bowl first. They struck early as Lucknow's skipper KL Rahul was dismissed in the third over. He was only able to score six runs, and took 11 balls for the same. Quinton de Kock and Deepak Hooda then joined hands to put together an 85-run partnership.
They steadied the ship, and didn't take too many risks. However, De Kock was dismissed in the 13th over. Hooda was quick to follow as he perished five balls later. Lucknow kept losing wickets at regular intervals as none of their batters were able to get to a big score.
Kagiso Rabada was superb as he picked four wickets in his full quota of four overs. Punjab's bowlers were disciplined as they didn't give any beating space to the Lucknow batters. Thus, the Rahul-led side ended up scoring just 153-8 in the first innings. However, the score turned out to be a good one as the pitch was assisting the bowlers.
Thus, Lucknow's bowlers were right on the money during the second innings. They too kept picking wickets at regular intervals. Although some of Punjab's batters got starts, none of them were able to go on and get a big score. Krunal Pandya only gave 11 runs in his four overs, and also took two wickets in the process.
It was Jonny Bairstow who gave Punjab a glimmer of hope as he held the innings from one end. However, his dismissal put the final nail in Punjab's coffin. At the end, they fell short of their target by 20 runs. As for Lucknow, Mohsin Khan was sensational as he took three wickets in his four overs. Several fans took to Twitter to give their views on the game.
Here are some of the Tweets from today's game:
Β
What a team effort man. #LSG
β Kaushik (@CricKaushik_) April 29, 2022
Punjab Kings never fails to disappoint.
β Sanchit Desai (@sanchitd43) April 29, 2022
They even managed to disappoint the other teams supporting them. #IPL2022
Mayank, Dhawan, Bairstow, Livingstone, Rabada, Chahar, Arshdeep. Man Punjab how are you even bottling the season with such a line up π pic.twitter.com/4n9yM1jJbH
β Heisenberg β’ (@internetumpire) April 29, 2022
Bairstow frauded this season which is why PBKS failed
β Manas (@manas__3) April 29, 2022
King Rajapaksa was benched for so many matches because of him π
How did Punjab manage to not win this? Nice work, Lucknow btw.
β Shrutika // Unreliable Car Season (@Shrustappen33) April 29, 2022
Again PBKS auction strategy has to be questioned. Spent over 15 crores on Odean Smith & SRK.
β Varun Desai - Champions of Europe π (@LWOSVarun) April 29, 2022
Could have spent that on Boult & one or two quality Indian batsman.
Incredibly, this is Jonny Bairstow's highest score in his last 12 T20 innings, spanning the T20 World Cup and the first half of #IPL2022
β Matt Roller (@mroller98) April 29, 2022
The last time he scored 20+ was for Welsh Fire in his second and final game of the Hundred - just before his Test recall last summer
That was beautiful catch by KL. Mayankπ€¦π½ββοΈ.
β Bhawana (@bhawnakohli5) April 29, 2022
Pbks doing what RCB did here in last match (?)
β vru (@BringHopeToUs) April 29, 2022
But but Holder bats at 7 for LSG, KL has better support from the batting unit. Ghanta kuch karte hain wo.
β P (@ItzzzPraveen) April 29, 2022
Atleast Buttler gets a good support from Samson and Hetmyer. https://t.co/dd602OcDAi
Pandya-monium! π₯
β Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 29, 2022
Has Krunal set up an #epic @LucknowIPL win?#PBKSvLSG #TATAIPL #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/HbIwUCjJQg
KL Rahul takes the catch of Mayank Agarwal, a brilliant take by KL. Chameera gets the opening wicket.
β Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 29, 2022