The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have halted the momentum chariot of the Mumbai Indians (MI) in a last-over nail-biter in Lucknow on Tuesday. This was an important game for both LSG and MI and now this loss for MI has dented their playoff chances considerably because they don’t have a good NRR and two other teams – PBKS and RCB – can overtake them later on.
LSG had put up 177/3 on the board courtesy of a blinder of a knock by Marcus Stoinis. Marcus Stoinis recorded his IPL best score of 89*, which he scored from 47 balls with the help of 4 fours and 8 jaw-dropping six.
In reply, MI got off to a good start from Kishan and Rohit Sharma, the opening pair adding 90 runs in 9.4 overs for the first wicket. After that, however, MI lost their way and LSG made a superb comeback with theb all; even Suryakumar Yadav failed to fire today. Naveen-ul-Haq’s 19 over, wherein he leaked 19 runs, kept MI in the game but eventually, Mohsin Khan bowled a superb last over to defend 11 runs.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) now have 15 points in 13 matches. If they win their last match, they will certainly be through as no other team than CSK can reach 17 points or more. Gujarat Titans are already through to playoffs with 18 points in 13 games. But if LSG lost their last game, they can still be knocked out as three teams – MI, RCB, and PBKS – can reach 16 points.
How can Mumbai Indians (MI) still qualify for playoffs in IPL 2023?
Yes, Mumbai Indians (MI), who have 14 points in 13 matches, are still in playoff contention, but they need to win their last game by a big margin because RCB and PBKS can also reach 16 points.
Two other teams – RCB and PBKS – can also reach 16 points if both of them win their remaining matches. RCB have NRR of +0.166 and two matches left, while PBKS have NRR of -0.268 and 2 games left. So if RCB win both their matches and reaches 16 points, MI will need to win by a very big margin to avoid their NRR remaining below RCB’s.
Here is the points table after LSG vs MI match:
MI captain Rohit Sharma said after the loss vs LSG: “(Where was the game lost) We just lost the game, that’s all I want to say. We did not play well enough. There were moments that we did not win – little moments that you have to win. Unfortunate but you have to keep your heads high. (On their strong start) Not really. We assessed the pitch really well. It was a good pitch to bat on. We thought that that score was definitely chaseable. We lost our way in the second half of our innings a little bit. In hindsight, we gave too many runs at the back end.
“We held up pretty well until then. (On Stoinis) He played really well, playing according to his strengths. Kept hitting down the ground, which is what you have to do in these conditions – credit to him. I do not know how the calculations are going to work. We have to come out and play good cricket again (in their last league fixture).”
