Match 37 - Points Table - sportstiger

Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL

Mumbai Indians suffered their eighth straight defeat against the Lucknow Super Giants. The five-time champions lost by 36 runs as they failed to chase the total of 168. Now, the Super Giants have defeated MI for the second time this season. This Lucknow victory was led by another KL Rahul century. In the second innings, Ishan Kishan had a horrible start as he scored eight runs in 20 balls. The MI batting showed sparks of form but couldn’t get the job done.

Changes in the points table

After the 37th match of the IPL, Lucknow Super Giants are fourth on the table with ten points from eight games. They also have a net run rate of +0.334. Whereas the Mumbai Indians are at the bottom of the table with zero points from eight games with a net run rate of -1.000.

Today’s matchup

The Punjab Kings will take on the Chennai Super Kings for the second time in the 2022 IPL. In their previous fixture, Punjab took a 54-run victory. But entering this match CSK has an advantage as they won the previous match against the Mumbai Indians, whereas PBKS lost to Delhi Capitals by nine wickets.

What did the captains say?

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was dejected with the defeat as he said, “I thought we bowled pretty okay. It wasn't easy. It was a good pitch to bat on. I thought that score should have been chased down, but we didn't bat well enough. When you have a target like that, it is important to string partnerships. But some irresponsible shots in the middle, including mine. We didn't get the momentum. They bowled really well. We haven't batted well enough in this tournament. Whoever plays in the middle needs to take that responsibility and go on to play long innings. Some of the opposition players have done that and that is what is hurting us.”

“One guy needs to ensure that he bats as long as possible. Everyone has come into discussion given how our tournament has gone. We need to ensure that we have a settled team and give players in the middle a fair chance. Their roles are different when they play for their countries and here we expect something else from them. We tried not making too many changes, and we have tried to play the best combination possible", Sharma added.

He also said that when a team loses games, they always have such discussions. He concluded by saying, "The season hasn't gone the way we would have wanted it to, but such things happen.”

On the other hand, Lucknow Super Giants KL Rahul was elated with his Player of the Match award and team’s victory. He said, “Will have to make up for all the over rates and fines I'm getting (with his Player of the Match awards). Trying to play according to the situation, see what's expected out of me."

“Lucky that I could score as much as I did. I try and assess the pitch and conditions and see what's best I could do for the team. With this team, we do bat deep. Holder is batting at eight. With the depth, you can play a bit more freely. That's probably the only reason (for his higher strike rate). Teams that can defend well, or bowl well in the powerplay and finish off well in the death overs are teams that have won the tournament. We were very clear going into the auctions", he concluded.