LSG defeated MI in a high-scoring thriller at the Ekana Stadium. Hardik Pandya and his batters were in the chase until the last over but the brilliance and Shardul Thakur and Avesh Khan in the last two overs took the game away from them. LSG won the match by 12 runs while defending 204 target.
Hardik Pandya’s fifer
Hardik Pandya was bowling really well yesterday and was breathing fire on LSG batters by deceiving them with his off-cutters. he took his first fifer in IPL and also became the first captain to pick a five-wicket haul. Mumbai Indians’ captains always create unique records.
Sachin Tendulkar became the first captain to score an IPL hundred in 2011 against the then franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala (TSK) and now Hardik Pandya became the first captain to pick a fifer. Unfortunately, MI lost in both matches.
LSG’s dominance against MI
MI and LSG have competed in 7 matches so far, and LSG has won 6 out of them. The only win for MI came in the eliminator of 2023 IPL. In the league stages, LSG have a 100% winning record against the 5 time champions. It’s strange to see a champion team like MI struggling against a team badly in like this.
MI have faced a similar situation like this with he previous team of Goenka called Rising Pune Super Giants, who played in the Ipl in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. MI has a record of 2 wins and 4 losses against them in their 6 matches. One of those 2 wins came in the 2017 IPL Final.
MI may struggle against a team in the league stage, but they knew when to unleash their “A” game and that’s why they are 5-time champions.
The game becomes even?
In the first 3 matches, when SRH scored 286 and PBKS scored 243, People were raising concerns about the flat pitches and becoming batting-friendly. But things have changed for the past few matches. The 200 total has been reduced, and chasing big totals is not as easy like before.
The ground staff members have worked on overcoming the dew factor in the second innings. The game is more even now like the good old days where 200 is a big score and not a regular total.
Retired out
Yesterday, Tilak Verma was struggling to middle the ball, so he was called out by the MI management and Santner was sent in to go for smashing some boundaries in the last over. He becomes the 4th player in IPL history to get out in this way. The previous three incidents happened in the last 3 years.
Ashwin was the first player to get out in this way in 2022 against LSG. Sai Sudharshan ( vs MI ) and Atharva Taide ( vs DC ) got out in the same way in 2023.
Ashwin was asked about this when he got out as he retired for the first time in IPL to give way for Riyan Parag to hit some shots in the last over. He said it was planned by the management, and teams should look for such tactics to win games in Modern days.
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