IPL: Lucknow Super Giants earn first win after beating Punjab Kings by 21 runs

Lucknow Super Giants registered a 21-run win over Punjab Kings on Friday in Lucknow to pick up their first win of the IPL 2024 campaign.

Lucknow posted a target of 200 for Punjab to chase thanks to a Quinton de Kock half-century and quick knocks from Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya. The hosts managed to limit PBKS to 178/5 as debutant Mayank Yadav starred with a three-wicket haul, while Mohsin Khan picked up two wickets.

PBKS were given a brilliant start to the chase by skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow as the pair put up a 100-run partnership before Bairstow fell to Mayank Yadav.

The Debutant pacer shook the Punjab batting order by going on to scalp Prabhsimram Singh and Jitesh Sharam.

Dhawan’s 70-run knock came to an end as he was scalped by Mohsin Khan, who removed Sam Curran in the very next ball to rattle Punjab.

Liam Livingstone and Shashank Singh remained unbeaten at 28 and 9 respectively, but the Punjab side were limited to 178 by the Lucknow bowling unit.

Lucknow Super Giants’ opening pair of Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul managed to start off the batting powerplay steadily. But just as Rahul looked to pick up the pace, Arshdeep Singh got the dismissal. This was followed by the wicket of Devdutt Padikkal who started strong but was unable to stick around for long.

Marcus Stoinis who came in at number four, de Kock and the skipper Nicholas Pooran took charge of the innings as the pair managed to hit the boundaries in regular intervals with the South Africa keeper-batter bringing up his first fifty of the season.

Arshdeep struck for the second tome as he got the big wicket of de Kock who looked to be settled for a big knock. Pooran on the other hand picked up the pace but was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada who got the big wicket of the skipper.

Krunal Pandya looked to be in fine touch with the bat as he helped the side finish with a total of 199/8 on the board. Despite the lack of specialist batters on the other end, he managed to take charge and score some crucial runs, finishing with a score of 43 off 22 deliveries.

Sunday, March 31, will see Gujarat Titans take on Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi Capitals face Chennai Super Kings.

(With inputs from CNN-News 18)