Pune : Pacer Kagiso Rabada’s fifth four-wicket haul in IPL helped Punjab Kings restrict Lucknow Super Giants to 153/8 in 20 overs at MCA Stadium here on Friday. Apart from Rabada’s 4/38, leg-spinner Rahul Chahar picked two wickets while pacer Sandeep Sharma had a scalp to his name.
On a sticky pitch, at 98/1, things looked set for Lucknow to accelerate. But a middle-order wobble saw them lose five wickets for just 13 runs between overs 13-16, which eventually became six for 28 between overs 13-18.
Rabada got the first breakthrough when his length delivery around off-stump nipped away to take the outer edge of K.L Rahul’s defence to diving keeper Jitesh Sharma. Quinton de Kock opened up in the fifth over, slamming back-to-back sixes off Rabada — hitting one down the ground followed by smacking over deep mid-wicket.
In a bid to go big, de Kock played a cross-bat shot off Rishi Dhawan in the final over of power-play. The thick edge flew over backward point and Rabada, running backward, spilled a tough chance, giving de Kock a reprieve at 19.
Deepak Hooda, promoted to three with no Manish Pandey in the eleven, struggled to time the ball despite lofting Dhawan over long-off for a huge six. De Kock went quiet after the power-play ended though he drove Liam Livingstone through cover and cracked a sweep past short fine leg off Rahul Chahar.
The partnership of 85 off 59 balls for the second wicket came to an end when de Kock got a faint edge on a cut off Sandeep Sharma in the 13th over and though the on-field umpire gave him not out, the left-handed opener walked off. De Kock’s fall began a slide for Lucknow’s middle-order as some lazy running from Hooda saw him run-out by a direct hit from Jonny Bairstow at deep square leg.
In the next over, Krunal Pandya holed out to long-on off Rabada and four balls later, Ayush Badoni flicked, only for the top-edge to be pouched by Livingstone running in from long-on. In a desperate bid to accelerate, Marcus Stoinis chipped a catch straight back to Chahar off his own bowling. In his final over, Chahar had another scalp when Jason Holder lofted straight to deep cover.
Dushmantha Chameera carted Rabada for successive sixes in his last over to infuse some life into Lucknow’s innings. But Chameera’s stay at the crease ended when he lofted off the bottom of the bat and was caught by deep cover who ran in and timed his slide well. It took a drive through extra cover by Mohsin Khan on the last ball off Arshdeep Singh to take Lucknow past 150.
Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants 153/8 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 46, Deepak Hooda 34; Kagiso Rabada 4/38, Rahul Chahar 2/30) against Punjab Kings
–IANS