Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have started their IPL 2023 campaign on a winning note with a crushing win over Delhi Capitals in their first game at home. Kyle Mayers and Mark Wood were the heroes for the hosts with the former scoring 73 runs while the English pacer picking up a brilliant five-wicket haul. While LSG were spot on with their plans, the Capitals looked undercooked especially in the field and paid the price.
After being put in to bat first, LSG got off to a very slow start and to make things worse, they lost their skipper KL Rahul too. Chetan Sakariya got the better of him. Things could've been even better for the visitors had Khaleel Ahmed not dropped a sitter to reprieve Kyle Mayers when he was on 14. The Caribbean batter then teed off like anything and smashed almost every ball to the boundary. Mayers got to his half-century off just 32 balls and was eventually dismissed for 73 off just 38 balls with seven sixes and two fours to his name.
However, his dismissal affected the run-rate of LSG with Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya not middling the ball as expected. Nevertheless, Nicholas Pooran came out and played his shots right from the word go. His knock made sure LSG were on course for a big score and Ayush Badoni made it a reality thanks to his exceptional cameo. Badoni smashed 18 runs off 7 balls while Pooran made 36 runs as the Super Giants finished strongly on 193 runs in their 20 overs. Chetan Sakariya went for 23 runs in the final over of the innings that shifted the momentum in LSG's favour completely.
The chase started off very brightly for DC as David Warner teed off early. The Capitals were 40 off first four overs but Mark Wood's introduction turned the game on its head. The pacer castled Prithvi Shaw and Mitchell Marsh off successive deliveries and sucked all the momentum out of the innings. In his second over, Wood hurried Sarfaraz Khan with his pace to dismiss him. Rilee Rossouw came out and played well to score 30 runs off 20 balls but Warner got stuck badly in the middle overs.
The equation came down to 100 runs off last 38 balls and with Rovman Powell getting out, it looked seemingly impossible for DC to chase. Meanwhile, David Warner got to his half-century but he took 45 balls for the same. Wickets continued to fall and the Capitals never looked like getting to the target. Eventually, they could only get 143 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their 20 overs to lose the game by 50 runs.
