Lucknow set a target of 200 for Punjab to chase, led to a half-century by Quinton de Kock and quick runs from Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya. The hosts restricted PBKS to 178/5, with debutant Mayank Yadav taking three wickets and Mohsin Khan picking up two.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow gave PBKS a strong start in the chase, putting up a 100-run partnership until Bairstow was dismissed by Mayank Yadav.
The debutant bowler stunned the Punjab batting order by dismissing Prabhsimram Singh and Jitesh Sharam.
Dhawan’s 70-run performance came to an end when he was bowled by Mohsin Khan, who then dismissed Sam Curran with the next ball to shock Punjab.
Liam Livingstone and Shashank Singh stayed undefeated at 28 and 9, respectively, but the Lucknow bowling team held the Punjab side to 178 runs.
Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul, the Lucknow Super Giants’ opening pair, started the batting powerplay calmly. However, just as Rahul tried to take up the pace, Arshdeep Singh was dismissed. This was followed by the dismissal of Devdutt Padikkal, who started well but couldn’t hang around for long.
Marcus Stoinis, who came in at number four, de Kock, and captain Nicholas Pooran took leadership of the innings, hitting boundaries at regular intervals, with South Africa’s keeper-batter reaching his first fifty of the season.Arshdeep struck for the second tome, taking the crucial wicket of de Kock, who appeared to be primed for a huge innings. Pooran, on the other hand, ramped up the tempo but was eventually bowled by Kagiso Rabada, who took the captain’s wicket.
Krunal Pandya seemed to be in good form with the bat, helping the team end on 199/8. Despite the lack of specialized batters on the other end, he was able to take command and score some important runs, finishing with 43 off 22 deliveries.
