In the Eliminator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 81 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With this win, they will be playing Qualifier 2 on Friday, May 26 against Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
MI captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. The Mumbai-based team had a formidable start, and the runs were flowing in the middle overs two, but some tight spells from Naveen-ul-Haq and Yash Thakur restricted them to put up a 200+ total. However, some final assaults by Nehal Wadhera helped MI to score a competitive total of 182/8 in their 20 overs.
While chasing, LSG had a shaky start, as both the opener Prerak Mankad (3) and Kyle Mayers (18) got out in the second and fourth over by Chris Jordan and Akash Madhwal respectively. Skipper Krunal Pandya (1) could not able to contribute in a crucial encounter. The Aussie all-rounder Marcus Stoinis (40) started to drive this chase, by playing some counter-attacking shots and started to look very dangerous as he became a potential threat to the Mumbai-based side. But the 10th over changed the whole course of the innings, as young pacer Akash scalped wickets in quick succession by dismissing Ayush Badoni (1) and Nicholas Pooran on duck, which once again shifted the momentum towards MI. The LSG batting line-up then got derailed, as Stoinis got run out, which added more insult to the injury, and the Lucknow batting fell like a pack of cards, but in the end, LSG got all out by scoring 101 runs in 16.3 overs.
For the Mumbai-based outfit, Akash Madhwal registers his maiden five-wicket haul, which turned out to be the best bowling performance in the playoffs in the history of the tournament. He conceded only five runs in his 3.3 overs of bowling quota and got five wickets. Jordan and Piyush Chawla got one wicket each.
In the first innings, Mumbai openers Rohit (11) and Ishan Kishan (15) gave a positive start to the side, but both of them could not able to capitalize to score big, as both of them got out in the successive fourth and fifth over by Yash and Naveen respectively. Cameron Green (41) continued his top-notch form, and scored runs in a quick manner, along with Suryakumar Yadav (33), who complimented his Australian partner and built 68 runs partnership, which kept the scoring rate high. But in the 11th over, the Afghani pacer, Naveen got the all-important wickets of Green and SKY which broke the partnership between the two. LSG bowlers then started to put up the shackles on the run rate, but some firing ending cameo from Wadhera (23), helped MI to put up a formidable total.
For Lucknow, Naveen was the star with the ball, as he scalped four wickets, along with Yash who got three wickets. Mohsin Khan claimed one wicket.
For his incredible bowling performance, Akash Madhwal was adjudged Player of the Match.
Scorecard:
Mumbai Indians: 182/8, Overs 20, Cameron Green 41, Naveen-ul-Haq 4/38
Lucknow Super Giants: 101/10, Overs 16.3, Marcus Stoinis 40, Akash Madhwal 5/5