LANDMARC WIN: Stoinis, Mayers’ batting heroics help LSG beat Kings by 56 runs

MOHALI: A batting masterclass from Marcus Stoinis and Kyle Mayers helped Lucknow Super Giants beat Punjab Kings by 56 runs in the IPL here on Friday. The win enabled Lucknow to move up to second in the table with 10 points from 8 matches, while host Punjab suffered its fourth defeat in eight matches to remain at sixth.

Set to chase an improbable 258, Punjab was never in the hunt losing skipper Shikhar Dhawan in the first over. Atharva Taide (66 off 36b, 8x4, 2x6) and Sikandar Raza added 78 runs for the third wicket but it was apparent that they were fighting a losing battle with the required run-rate steadily mounting. A few lusty hits from Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran towards the end only reduced the margin of defeat. Earlier, a display of brutal hitting from Kyle Mayers and Marcus Stoinis fired Lucknow to 257 for five. Mayers (54 off 24) went on the rampage in the Powerplay before Stoinis (72 off 40) effortlessly collected boundaries at will to help his team set a mammoth target. The other important contributions came from Ayush Badoni (43 off 24) and Nicholas Pooran (45 off 19).

Back to lead Punjab after three games, Shikhar Dhawan opted to field but his bowlers were all over the place on a belter of a track.

Barring Rahul Chahar, all the other six bowlers leaked more than 10 runs per over. The usually frugal Arshdeep Singh leaked 54 runs in four overs and Kagiso Rabada gave away 52 runs in four overs although he had two wickets to show for his efforts.

The total was also the highest of the season and six runs shy of 263, the highest ever total in IPL history achieved by RCB back in 2013 when Chris Gayle played his epic 175-run knock.

Mayers looked in menacing touch from the get-go as he smashed Arshdeep for four boundaries in his opening over. He started with a gorgeous drive through point before using his long levers to target the long-on and deep mid-wicket region, collecting seven fours and four sixes in total.

Such was his confidence and he took a couple of strides forward to dispatch Rabada just over his head.

After Mayers fell inside the Powerplay, Stoinis and Badoni shared an 89-run stand off only 47 balls to maintain the momentum created by Mayers.

Stoinis played some breathtaking strokes in his belligerent knock that included five sixes and half a dozen boundaries.

Stoinis could have been dismissed in the 13th over but Liam Livingstone touched the boundary while trying to take a regulation catch at long-on.

Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants 257/5 in 20 overs (M Stoinis 72, K Mayers 54, N Pooran 45, A Badoni 43) bt Punjab Kings 201 in 19.5 overs (A Taide 66, Y Thakur 4/37 )