Lucknow and Delhi clashed against each other in the third match of the Indian T20 League 2023 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The Lucknow-based franchise dominated both batting and bowling departments and convincingly won the match by 50 runs.
Talking about the match, Delhi won the toss and opted to bowl first and also started well as they dismissed the out-of-form Lucknow skipper KL Rahul on a score of just 8 runs when they were 30/1 after the powerplay, but things changed after that as Kyle Mayers was dropped in the final over of the powerplay by Khaleel Ahmed, and he made them pay.
He started smashing all the bowlers for sixes and also took the attack on Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel and found the boundaries at will. However, Kuldeep and Axar struck in tandem in the 11th and 12th over to send both Deepak Hooda and Mayers packing, but the latter had done quite some damage by then. Marcus Stoinis couldn’t do much but a powerful cameo from Nicholas Pooran and a few lusty blows from Ayush Badoni in the slog overs helped the team to achieve a massive total of 193 runs.
A brilliant all-round performance by Lucknow
Chasing the target, Delhi had a decent start but Mark Wood wreaked havoc with his fiery pace and took 2 consecutive wickets in the fifth over of the powerplay. However, he didn’t stop after that and dismissed Sarfaraz Khan on the last ball of the powerplay. South African star player Rilee Rossouw joined hands with skipper David Warner and steadied the ship.
But the required run rate inflated so much that Rossouw and Warner had to play bad shots and lost their wickets at the wrong time. After that, there was no chance of a comeback and it was a clinical performance by the Lucknow bowlers, especially Wood, who picked up a fifer and conceded only 14 runs in his four overs quota.
Here’s how fans reacted:
Arrest vadapao for this defeat
— Spookie (@Spookie07) April 1, 2023
🐐 captain KLR
— Sagar Nandal (@SagarNandal14) April 1, 2023
KL RAHUL CAPTAINCY effect 🔥🔥🔥
— Anshdeep Singh (@anshwitter) April 1, 2023
KL contribution pic.twitter.com/6kmD9ih0xG
— Juilius Sneezer (@itsmewhocares11) April 1, 2023
Delhi missing captain Pant
— Factos (@I_say_factos) April 1, 2023
Lucky charm captain LORD KL RAHUL AND LORD HARDIK….
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Whenever they captained any team …maximum of times team won ❤️🤗 pic.twitter.com/JbegY06U3s— Anu ICT FANGIRL ❤️ (@big_bull12) April 1, 2023
LSG brigade
Bowling options are insane pic.twitter.com/zWJ5LfaKQZ— Virat 👑 (@77thHundredwhnx) April 1, 2023
Thanks to ayush and mayers innings
— ▄︻̷̿┻̿═━一 (@NO_VIS0R) April 1, 2023
Yogi ji dominating Kejri here also 🔥
— Hit (@SuperHit07) April 1, 2023
