Chennai: Pacer Akash Madhwal picked a sensational five-wicket haul (5/5) and helped Mumbai Indians advance to Qualifier 2 of IPL 2023 with a thumping 81-win over Lucknow Super Giants in Eliminator at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here.
Winning the toss on a pitch, where Lucknow skipper Krunal Pandya had quipped he would have liked to bat first too, Mumbai made 182/8, Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav chipped in with 41 and 33 respectively, while Tilak Varma hit a 22-ball 26.
But the real impetus came from impact player Nehal Wadhera, who slammed a crucial 23 off 12 balls, including hitting 14 runs in the final over, to take Mumbai to a challenging total. In reply, Lucknow were 68/2 in eight overs at one point in their chase of 183. But from there, they fell like a pack of cards to be 101 all out in 16.3 overs.
Madhwal turned the tide effectively in Mumbai’s favour, finishing with an exceptional 5/5 in 3.1 overs, which is the best-ever bowling figure in IPL playoffs history as well as most economical five-fer in the tournament and, the best bowling performance by an uncapped Indian player.
Mumbai were also aided by three hara-kiri run-outs from Lucknow’s batting to book their spot in Qualifier 2, where they will face defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday, to determine who faces Chennai Super Kings in Sunday’s title clash.
Chasing 183, Mumbai made the breakthrough in the second over as Madhwal had Prerak Mankad slicing to deep point. Two overs later, Mayers miscued pull to mid-on off Chris Jordan.
Mumbai could have got their third wicket had Nehal Wadhera not misjudged the catch of Marcus Stoinis while running in from deep cover in the fifth over. From there, Stoinis swung off Cameron Green for four, before pulling twice off Hrithik Shokeen for back-to-back boundaries through square leg and mid-wicket.
He followed it up with a straight six down the ground as 18 runs came off the last over of power-play. But he was losing support from the other end as Krunal holed out to long-on of Piyush Chawla in the ninth over.
Madhwal’s return in the tenth over truly broke the game open for Mumbai — Ayush Badoni’s off-stump was sent for a cartwheel ride, followed by Nicholas Pooran nicking behind to fall for a golden duck.
Earlier, Mumbai looked all set for a 200-plus total, racing to 98/2 at half-way mark. But Naveen-ul-Haq halted Mumbai’s charge by using his slower deliveries to pick 4/38, with Yash Thakur and Mohsin Khan taking 3/34 and 1/24 respectively.
Mumbai were off to a flying start as Ishan Kishan used late-cut twice while steering once to collect three boundaries through third man region while Rohit Sharma smacked high over long-on for six and went down on one knee to sweep for four against Krunal and Gowtham.
WTC Final: Shastri reckons Ashwin, Jadeja will feature in India’s playing XI
New Delhi: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri reckons the Rohit Sharma-led side could include both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the playing eleven for the upcoming World Test Championship final against Australia, set to be played at The Oval from June 7-11.
Apart from ace off-spinner Ashwin and top-ranked all-rounder Jadeja in the 15-player squad, India also have the services of left-arm spin all-rounder Axar Patel.
“If the track is hard and dry, you would want two spinners to play for sure. I think it goes a lot with the weather in England. I believe it’s sunny now at the moment, but you know, English weather, how it can change in the month of June. So there’s a very good chance India will go with two spinners, two fast bowlers and an all-rounder. That will be the combination. And then there’ll be five batsmen and the wicket-keeper, so six batsmen,” said Shastri in an episode of The ICC Review show.
“So if all conditions stay normal at The Oval, then this would be my combination, but you’ve got to have the quality to be able to put those guys out in the park,” he added.
Shastri was the head coach when India beat England in the fourth Test at The Oval, though it came on the back of efforts from fast bowlers, all-round performance of Shardul Thakur and Rohit’s important century in the second innings.
Ravi Shastri’s predicted India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wk), Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
