Lucknow, March 30: Shikhar Dhawan’s valiant knock of 70 runs went in vain as Lucknow Super Giants riding on debutant Mayank Yadav's three wickets for 27, beat Punjab Kings by 21 runs to clinch their first win of the season, here at Ekana Cricket Stadium.

Chasing the daunting target of 200 to win, Punjab Kings got off to a cracking start as Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow added 102 runs for the first wicket. They scored 61 runs in the powerplay overs. Bairstow, known for his attack intent took the charge of scoring quick runs as Dhawan took the role of anchoring the inning.

The first two overs saw only 16 runs on the board but soon Dhawan changed his gear and smashed 16 runs off Manimaran Siddharth in his first over. Dhawan then scored 14 runs in Mohsin Khan’s second over and soon reached his half-century with a six in Ravi Bishnoi’s over.

Bairstow on the other hand took Krunal Pandya under his radar and hammered back-to-back sixes in the ninth over of the inning. Punjab reached 98 for none after the end of ten overs with Dhawan on 56 and Bairstow on 42.

The pace sensation for LSG, Mayank Yadav, who also made a record of bowling the fastest delivery (155.8kmph) of the season (IPL 2024), drew the first blood after getting rid of Bairstow for 42 with a 143 km/h delivery.

Mayank followed Bairstow into the pitch, where he discovered the upper edge of the pull. Bairstow was deep in the crease, moving quickly even though it appeared like he had prearranged the shot. It was a length ball on top of the leg and Marcus Stoinis completed the catch on the backward square leg diving front.

Prabhsimran Singh coming at number three slogged sweep Ravi Bishnoi for a four in the very third delivery of his inning and then a maximum on the last delivery of the over. Just when Prabhsimran was looking dangerous skipper Pooran brought Mayank back into the attack after getting hit for a six in the second delivery, Yadav with his raw pace sent Prabhsimran to the pavilion. He scored 19 off six deliveries. Mayank Yadav on his debut clinched the second wicket and brought LSG back into the game.

Yadav bowling his last over of the spell got rid of wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma with a 144 km/h bouncer angling in the body. Jitesh looking to go over mid-wicket got the top edge and handed it straight into the hands of Naveen-ul-Haq fielding at short mid-wicket. Mayank ended his spell with three wickets and 27 runs in four overs.

Dhawan’s struggle to find boundaries continued as he scored only 19 runs off 20 deliveries after scoring his half-century. Mohsin Khan in his last over of the spell claimed back-to-back wickets dismissing Dhawan for 70 and Sam Curran on a duck.

With the last three overs left in the game Punjab needed 58 runs and Liam Livingstone came in the crease. However, it was too late for him to do something impossible for Punjab as pressure started to pile up from the other end.

Things ended for Punjab as they were left with 41 needed in the last over. Naveen bowling the last over gave 17 runs and LSG won their first match of this season by 21 runs.

Brief score:

Lucknow Super Giants 199 for 8 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 54, Nicholas Pooran 42; Sam Curran 3-28, Arshdeep Singh 2-30) beat Punjab Kings 178 for 5 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 70, Jonny Bairstow 42; Mayank Yadav 3-27, Mohsin Khan 2-34) by 21 runs.

(IANS)

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