PBKS vs LSG | Prabhsimran and Arshdeep play pivotal roles as Punjab starts Dharamsala leg with clinical win

After being put in to bat first, the Kings started on the wrong foot losing opener Priyansh Arya holing out in the deep to Akash Singh in the fifth ball of the innings. However, Josh Inglis, promoted ahead of skipper Shreyas Iyer at number three, made his intentions pretty clear from ball one. After starting with a four off the left-arm pacer, Inglis smashed Mayank Yadav for three consecutive sixes over mid-wicket in the next over to bring the Kings’ innings back on track. Opener Prabhsimran Singh also joined the party with two sixes and a four off the pacer’s second over aggregating 36 runs from his first two. Akash brought the Super Giants back into reckoning dismissing the dangerous Inglis in the next over after getting hit for a six off the first ball. The visitors had a chance to finish the powerplay on a high but Nicholas Pooran dropped the in-form Prabhsimran, on 21, off Avesh Khan as Punjab reached 66/2 after six overs. The Punjab opener made full use of the reprieve getting to his third straight fifty in IPL this year, in just 30 balls. Meanwhile, Shreyas, who got off the mark with a four, continued his scoring spree this season and looked comfortable against the pacers with boundaries off Mayank and Prince Yadav. Lucknow skipper Rishabh Pant brought his lead spinner Digvesh Rathi back into the attack in search of a dismissal and the latter didn’t disappoint as he sent back the Punjab skipper who made 45 off 25 balls. But new batter Nehal Wadhera joined Prabhsimran as the pair hit two fours and three sixes to continue Punjab’s surge with a 34-run partnership off just 18 balls for the fourth wicket. Once Wadhera departed, Shashank Singh played the role of a finisher to perfection as the host notched 65 runs in the final four overs. Shashank and Prabhsimran were particularly severe on Avesh Khan plundering 26 runs, including three fours and two sixes, off the pacer’s third over. Though the Punjab opener’s splendid innings came to an end in the penultimate over, Shashank (33 off 15) and Marcus Stoinis’ (15 off 5) cameos took the side to 236/5, their highest total in IPL at this venue.

In response, LSG got off to a bad start with Arshdeep Singh dismissing openers Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram in the space of two deliveries in his second over as the score read 16/2 after three overs. The Australian all-rounder, trying to clear the boundary, skied a flick with Wadhera completing an excellent catch at deep mid-wicket while Markram was unlucky to find his timber disturbed off an inside edge. The left-arm pacer then dealt a body blow to the visitors trapping Nicholas Pooran, their top run-getter in IPL this year, in his next over with LSG ending the powerplay at 38/3. With 199 required from 84 balls and the in-form top order back in the hut, LSG skipper Pant and young Ayush Badoni had an unenvious task on hand. However, Pant looked rusty playing out 10 dot balls off his first 14 and his struggles finally ended with a slog off Azmatullah Omarzai caught at deep point as the wicketkeeper-batter ended up losing his bat, during the shot, along with his wicket. Soon, David Miller also followed suit as he became the Afghan pacer’s second victim with the visiting side placed at 74/5 at the halfway stage and needing another 163 runs for an improbable win. The young pair of Badoni and Abdul Samad played some fearless cricket with an entertaining 81-run stand off just 41 balls for the sixth wicket. But it only delayed the inevitable as Samad fell in the 17th over with LSG still needing 83 runs. Badoni was the lone-man standing for LSG and his 40-ball 74 helped reduce the margin of the victory. With another emphatic win, PBKS moved to the second spot with 15 points from 11 matches while LSG dropped to seventh place.

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Important win