Quinton de Kock scored 80 runs as Lucknow Super Giants earned their third victory of Indian Premier League 2022 by defeating Delhi Capitals by six wickets at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday.
Delhi could manage just 149/3 in their 20 overs, thanks mainly to Prithvi Shaw’s blazing knock at the top of the order, and Lucknow finished the chase by scoring 155/4 in 19.4 overs.
De Kock wasted little time in finding his rhythm and came together with captain KL Rahul to help LSG reach 48/0 at the end of the powerplay. The left-hander from South Africa hit compatriot Anrich Nortje for three fours and a six in the fifth over to put LSG in the driver’s seat in the chase.
Rahul was dismissed for 24 off 25 in the 10th over while de Kock got out for 80 off 52, with nine fours and two sixes, in the 13th over. Evin Lewis and Deepak Hooda didn’t do much and it came down to Krunal Pandya (19* off 14) and young Ayush Badoni (10* off 3) to finish off the chase.
With LSG needing five runs to win off the final over, Shardul Thakur got the wicket of Hooda with the first delivery. He then slipped in a dot ball to Badoni but the left-hander remained unfazed. He smacked the second and third deliveries he faced for a four and six respectively to close out the win.
Earlier, Delhi were asked to bat first and enjoyed their best phase of the match at the start. David Warner, marking his return to the franchise, took his spot at the top of the order but it was his opening partner Shaw who stole the show.
The right-hander, who registered scores of 38 and 10 in Delhi’s first two games, struck the ball wonderfully from the get-go and gave his team just the start they would have hoped for.
Shaw hit nine fours and two sixes in his 34-ball 61, but it all went south for DC from there on. From 67/0 after 7.2 overs, the Capitals went on to lose the wickets of Shaw, Warner (4 off 12) and Rovman Powell (3 off 10) for just seven runs.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi was the standout bowler for Lucknow and finished with figures of 2/22 from his four overs after taking the wickets of Warner and Powell.
Skipper Rishabh Pant (39* off 36) and Sarfaraz Khan (36* off 28) added an unbeaten partnership of 75 runs for the fourth wicket, but the duo never managed to hit top gear. Despite having seven wickets in hand, Delhi scored just 19 runs in the last three overs.