Marcus’ unbeaten 89 helps Lucknow beat Mumbai by 5 runs

LUCKNOW: Lucknow Super Giants held its nerve to prevail over Mumbai Indians by 5 runs in the IPL here on Tuesday.

The win helped Lucknow move up to third with 15 points from 13 games, while Mumbai slid to fourth with 14 points from 13 games.

Set to chase 178, Mumbai was restricted to 172 for five despite Ishan Kishan scoring a blitzkrieg 59 (39b, 8x4, 1x6).

Earlier, Marcus Stoinis flaunted his raw power on his way to a career-best 89 not out in the IPL as Lucknow recovered from a poor start to post 177 for three against Mumbai on a challenging pitch.

Stoinis smashed eight sixes in his belligerent 47-ball effort and shared an 82-run stand with skipper Krunal Pandya (49 retired hurt) after LSG found itself reeling at 35 for three in the seventh over.

As it has been the case through the season, batters had a tough time on a two-paced surface.

LSG made a questionable call to leave out its leading run-getter of the season, Kyle Myers, and the move did not work. Replacing him at the top, Deepak Hooda (5) was undone by a slower ball from Jason Behrendorff.

The next ball from the left-arm pacer was angled away and Prerak Mankad got a faint touch on way to the wicketkeeper while trying to run towards the third man.

The situation got worse for LSG when Quinton de Kock (16 off 15) fell in the seventh over to leave the home team reeling in the seventh over.

De Kock went for the drive off a googly from the wily Piyush Chawla but ended up getting caught behind.

The onus was on the big-hitting Stoinis and Krunal to resurrect the innings and they did that with a gritty stand before the latter got retired hurt after being seen in a bit of discomfort in the 16th over.

After that it was all Stoinis, who began his innings with massive sixes off spinners Hrithik.

Shokeen and Chawla in successive overs. Stroke-making was tough in the prevailing conditions but Stoinis used his brute force to get the much-needed boundaries and sixes.

The 18th over bowled by Jordan yielded 24 runs with the England pacer spraying it all over the place. He failed to nail his yorker and Stoinis was quick to dispatch his two balls for massive sixes down the ground besides collecting three fours off the short balls.

He finished the innings with a one-handed six off Akash Madhwal. Mumbai leaked 54 runs in the last three overs.

BRIEF SCORES: Lucknow Super Giants 177/3 in 20 overs (M Stoinis 89*, K Pandya 49) bt Mumbai Indians 172/5 in 20 overs (I Kishan 59).