The third match of TATA IPL 2023 started with a Caribbean Bang. Yet another toss-winning captain decided to take the field as Lucknow Super Giants were asked to Bat first. KL Rahul and Kyle Mayers took the field, but both the openers were troubled by the seam bowlers, especially Khaleel Ahmed, who gave only 6 runs in his first 2 overs of the opening spell.
LSG were 30-1 when the powerplay commenced and then began the Kyle Mayers show. The IPL debutant literally got under the skin of the bowlers and gave Axar Patel a good beating until he got cleaned up with an absolute Jaffa by Axar only. Kyle went on to score 73 runs in just 38 balls as he smashed the bowlers all around the park. The monstrous inning included 7 sixes and just 2 fours, and some credit for this goes to Khaleel Ahmed as well as he dropped a sitter when he was batting on just 14.
Despite dropping an easy catch, Khaleel Ahmed executed his plans with belief and came in the second spell and eventually got rid of Marcus Stoinis on the very first ball. He then removed Nicholas Pooran, who was looking in fine touch. Pooran was about to steal the show but was caught by Prithvi Shaw on 36 runs in just 21 balls at covers. Contributions down the order helped LSG to score 193 runs with the loss of 6 wickets.
Chasing 194 in an IPL game is never easy, but Delhi Capitals showed the right intent by scoring 40 runs in the first 4 overs. Mark Wood came in to bowl the 5th over of the inning and broke the partnership with back-to-back stump-shattering in-swinging deliveries. He first cleaned Prithvi Shaw, who was batting on 12 and sent Mitchell Marsh back to the pavilion for a Golden Duck in the similar fashion. Sarfaraz Khan survived the hattrick ball but couldn’t manage to survive a deadly by Wood and was caught at fine leg after facing as many as 9 balls.
David Warner tried to lead from the front by holding the other hand. Rilee Rossouw joined the skipper and played a good hand of 30 with the help of 3 boundaries and a maximum, but got out in a very unfortunate matter. Ravi Bishnoi, who removed Rilee moments ago sent Rovman Powell back to the pavilion with a fast googly. Meanwhile, David Warner scored his 56th Fifty in Indian Premium League, but no other player managed to spend time on the wicket.
Avesh Khan joined the party by sending both; Aman Hakim Khan (Impact Player) and David Warner back to the dressing room in the same over. Mark Wood came in to bowl the final over of the match and dismissed Axar Patel and Chetan Sakariya to complete a 5-wicket haul. He bowled with sheer pace and ended up with a figure of 4 overs for just 14 runs and 5 wickets.
After the wicket of the skipper, it was just a formality as Delhi Capitals was well short of the target and lost the game by 50 runs.
Also Read: IPL Winners List
