IPL 2023: Punjab Kings vs Lucknow Super Giants, Match 38 - Talking Points and Who Said What?

The 38th match of IPL 2023 saw a devastating first-innings knock by Lucknow Super Giants as the KL Rahul-led side ran through the Punjab Kings' bowling to bring up the second-highest total in IPL history. In the match held at Mohali's Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, LSG notched up a whopping score of 257/5 in 20 overs which eventually saw PBKS crumbling under its pressure. 

Batting first, LSG rode on the power-packed knocks of Kyle Mayers, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran to breach the 250-run mark in the first innings, before coming back to rattle the PBKS lineup and put up a commanding show with the ball in the second innings. Succumbing to the pressure, PBKS could score 201 runs before the completion of the 20 allotted overs as the hosts all of their wickets to suffer a 56-run defeat. 

Let's look at the Talking Points from today's game - 

Marcus Stoinis' powerful hitting puts PBKS bowlers to submission 

Building on a dominant start, Marcus Stoinis further paced LSG's batting by smacking the ball on all sides of the ground. Coming in to bat when LSG were 74/2, Stoinis didn't take much time before launching himself on the PBKS bowlers as the veteran Australian scored 72 runs off just 40 balls to take LSG way ahead of the 200-run mark. Stoinis hit six fours and five runs in his decorated knock which was brought up at a strike rate of 180. Stoinis eventually fell prey to Sam Curran, becoming his only victim of the match.

Kyle Mayers' incessant purple patch helps LSG get off to a solid start

Before Stoinis' arrival, it was explosive Caribbean opener Kyle Mayers who helped LSG take off to a flying start with the help of yet another mesmerising knock. At a point where LSG lost their skipper and Mayers' opening partner KL Rahul cheaply on an individual score of 12, Mayers didn't show any sign of being affected by the early setback and carried on with his natural prowess to register his fourth fifty of IPL 2023.

Mayers brought up his fifty in just 20 deliveries and scored four runs off the next four balls to finish his magnificent innings on a 24-ball-54 score. His run included seven fours and four sixes. He was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the last over of the powerplay as the South African speedster claimed his second wicket. 

After persistent support, Atharva Taide pays back his patrons with fighting knock 

Akola-born Atharva Taide who was brought in by Punjab Kings to open the innings for them in  Shikhar Dhawan's absence finally paid back to the continuous faith that the PBKS management had shown in him despite his ordinary outings. In the match against LSG which, it would be safe to say, was sealed by the visitors in the first half itself, Taide put up a solitary fight for Punjab by scoring a memorable half-century. Taide hit eight fours and two maximums to bring up his score of 66 in just 36 deliveries. He thus remained strong on the strike rate as well, hitting those valuable runs at a rate of over 183. 

Taide was ably supported in the middle by Sikandar Raza who scored 36 off 22 deliveries to put up a 78-run stand with Taide for the third wicket. 

Losing Captain, Shikhar Dhawan said -

We gave away too many runs. I felt that it (ball) didn't come on quickly to the bat and it went straight to the fielder (on his dismissal). I felt my strategy to play with the extra bowler backfired. We missed a spinner today. It's a learning for me. Livi (Livingstone) and even Sam (Curran) were there, so we couldn't send him (SRK) ahead.

Winning Captain, KL Rahul said -

It is so against the T20 trend. Can't put a finger on it. Happy that we got the win. Every game from now on would be very important. We had a break after the last game. We came back fresher after that. We were clear as to how to bat. When you see such wickets, you get excited as batters. Getting 250 speaks highly of how we batted. You are familiar with what you can expect. Just being familiar to wickets helps. We always talk about setting the tone at the start. We had guys like Mayers, Stoinis, Badoni has been batting well. Hooda as well. The think tank does most of the thinking and I try to understand what they are thinking. And if it suits us, we go through with the plan.

Player of the Match, Marcus Stoinis said - 

The finger is alright. It is better now. We will get scans done. We were joking about the difference between this wicket and the one at our home. Was just trying to build partnerships. Ayush got off to a flier as well. I do like to take responsibility of batting in the middle order and finishing it off. I have batted everywhere in my career. I was swinging a few in the nets. So, they got excited and gave me the new ball. No one loves to bowl on a flat one. The home wicket suits me more as my change of pace helps me there.