IPL 2023: Akash Madhwal’s five-star show helps Mumbai Indians beat Lucknow Super Giants

What promised to be an exciting chase ended up being a comic tragedy for Lucknow Super Giants.

Having finished the league stage level on points with Chennai Super Kings, they were placed third in the table because of net run-rate, which put them in a do-or-die contest against Mumbai Indians. After being eliminated at the same stage last year, much depended on overseas batsmen – Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran – for Lucknow to do better and overcome a daunting total of 182/8.

Instead, Mumbai’s attack – which has been their weakest link this season in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer, delivered blows after blows, with pacer Akash Madhwal returning with dream figures of 5/5. The massive 81-run win takes five-time champions Mumbai to Ahmedabad, where they will play Gujarat Titans in Qualifier II on Friday.

READ: How Rohit Sharma’s advice to be carefree propelled Akash Madhwal to do well

Clinical bowling performance

Though Mumbai had huffed and puffed to get this far, it was a night where they showed their resurgence is well and truly on and a seventh IPL title is not beyond their reach as this was their most clinical performance with the ball.

A MI-ghty special victory! 😎

The Mumbai Indians win by 81 runs and progress to the #Qualifier2 of #TATAIPL 2023 👏🏻👏🏻

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/CVo5K1wG31#TATAIPL | #Eliminator | #LSGvMI pic.twitter.com/77zW6NmInn

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 24, 2023

Madhwal started by dismissing Prerak Mankad in his first over and with Mayers – chosen as Impact Player over Quinton de Kock – departed in the fourth over to Chris Jordan, Mumbai had the game in their hand. From there on, Lucknow, through Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis, tried to stay in the game as the latter launched a counter-attack of his own to keep the asking rate in check. While Pandya departed in the ninth over, the following over bowled by Madhwal turned out to be a game changer. He first dismissed Ayush Badoni off the third ball and then managed to find the edge of Pooran on the next delivery as Lucknow began to crumble.

READ: How extensive scouting and diligent scouts have made Mumbai Indians the superstar team they are

At 74/5, the job was half-done for Mumbai. But for Lucknow, it was only getting worse and worse as three comical runouts of Stoinis, K Gowtham and Deepak Hooda – the latter being involved in the mix-up in all three – brought their curtains down as early as the 17th over. Fittingly, Madhwal got the final wicket.

Early inroads and counter-attack

When Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan departed in the space of six balls in the powerplay, it looked Mumbai Indians were throwing away the advantage of batting first. A team that has preferred chasing all along to make up for the inexperience in the bowling, their plan to bat first after winning the toss was not surprising. Having watched Chennai Super Kings defend a total of 172 comfortably against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier I, they knew what to expect on Wednesday. They were familiar with the pitch as well – the same one where they had made 139/8 in their match against the Super Kings – and knew it was only going to get slower as the game progressed under lights.

Flair 🤝 Power

Two sensational shots at two completely different parts of the ground ft. SKY & Green 💥💥#TATAIPL | #Eliminator | #LSGvMI pic.twitter.com/qN1tZwdiZ5

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 24, 2023

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So, despite losing the openers early, Mumbai’s batting line-up didn’t risk ending up with a low total in search of something in excess of 200 to compromise for the bowling shortcomings. But needing a total to stay ahead in the context at the halfway stage, it was pertinent that Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav made some quick runs before the ball gets soft. And the duo didn’t shelve their attacking approach, instead chose to be bold from the word go as they quickly put the pressure back on Lucknow.

On a pitch where batsmen could struggle for fluency, a couple of big overs were all that they needed. Their 66-run partnership off 38 deliveries made it look like a lot more. If Green targeted his usual spot on the leg side, Suryakumar had the arc behind the wicket on the leg side to make full use of.

Although he managed only two sixes, both shots left you in awe of those wrists. Suryakumar managed to hit the ball in pockets that you think is not possible even for someone of his reputation. The first one came off Yash Thakur’s short ball, which he deposited behind the keeper’s head by walking across the off-stump and scooping it. The second off Mohsin Khan was even better. The left-arm pacer thought he had sent down a well-directed bouncer, only for Suryakumar to get off the line and pull it over the fine-leg fielder. With a couple of boundaries following in the next two overs comfortably, it looked as if Green and Suryakumar would take Mumbai beyond Lucknow’s reach.

See-saw battle

Having started off with spin from both ends, it was Naveen-ul-Haq who made an early impression. After accounting for Rohit in his first over, he waited till the 11th over for his second and with the pace not being the friend on this pitch, he was smart enough to vary his pace. It needed something extraordinary to remove Suryakumar and Naveen bowled a leg-cutter at 107.3 kmph.

Yes ✅
No ❌

Confusion in the Middle x 2 #LSG lose two wickets in no time as Mumbai Indians capitalise 🙌#TATAIPL | #Eliminator | #LSGvMI pic.twitter.com/xWVnqQVSjh

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 24, 2023

Already into the shot, it skied off the former’s bat and K Gowtham pouched it safely running in from long-off. Naveen wasn’t done yet. Off the last ball, he brought out his other slow-ball version – the off-cutter – which landed on a good length, inviting Green for a drive. Like Suryakumar, Green too was early into the shot and the ball slipped through the gap between bat and pad to take out the stumps. Out of nowhere, now Lucknow had made their way back with Mumbai on 101/4.

From there on, with Lucknow getting a hang of the wicket, Mumbai had to fight hard for each run to take them to safety. And even though only two sixes came from the 12th over to the 16th, Mumbai had wickets in hand to cut loose in the end. They found the odd boundary and a six every over as they relied heavily on ones and twos to keep the pressure. Lucknow too chipped in with a wicket each in overs 17, 18 and 19 before Nehal Wadhera hit 14 valuable runs in the 20th before being dismissed off the last ball as Mumbai had 182/8 on board, 10 runs more than what Chennai had managed in the Qualifier I.