As if the struggles of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 was not enough, their game against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday began with the T20 World Cup squad selections still being hotly debated. The three big guns in the MI ranks in India’s 15-player squad flopped with the bat in another underwhelming show as LSG pulled off a four-wicket win.

Rohit Sharma fell for four, Suryakumar Yadav for 10 and Hardik Pandya, who will be deputy in the India team to the man he replaced as the IPL team skipper, fell for a first-ball duck. It turned out to be a big disappointment for fans too hoping for a quality contest as KL Rahul’s LSG proved their supremacy in a low-scoring game to climb to third in the points table and be within playoff places.

MI, put in to bat, were restricted to 144/7 and LSG, again powered by their Aussie all-rounder Marcus Stoinis (62 – 45b, 7x4, 2x6), reached 145/6 in 19.2 overs. After a fine display of bowling and fielding, LSG, Stonis and Rahul (28 off 22 b) guided the innings, achieving a fourth win in six matches on home turf this season. Rahul and Co who

made back-to-back playoffs in the first two seasons after making their debut in the T20 league in 2022, will be playing their last home game against Kolkata Knight Riders on May 5. Stoinis and Rahul set up the run chase, stitching together 58 runs for the second wicket even when the ball was not coming on to the bat.

Disappointment was writ large on a full house at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium as the fans were expecting some fireworks from the India stars. India pace spearhead and purple cap holder Jasprit Bumrah failed to take a wicket, although he bowled economically (4-0-17-0). Hardik did better with the ball, taking 2/26.

MI never had the going easy after being sent to bat first on a slow surface. Though Rohit Sharma scooped Mohsin Khan’s quick one on off-stump for a boundary, he got out the next ball, offering a straight catch to Stoinis at cover in the second over.

Suryakumar Yadav hit a towering six off Stoinis but then fell in a dramatic manner. The umpire called the Stoinis delivery wide, but Rahul behind the stumps chose to review for a catch and replays showed the ball had brushed SKY’s gloves on way to the keeper.

Tilak Verma’s run out to a direct throw from Ravi Bishnoi and Hardik’s dismissal immediately after that left the five-time champions struggling at 28/4, their second-lowest total in

powerplay this IPL. The combo of red-black soil turf continued to haunt MI batters even then and in the next 24 deliveries they could collect only 29 runs, which included just three fours. The scoreboard read 57/4 at the half-way mark.

Full marks to KL Rahul’s frequent bowling changes, which didn't allow MI batters to free their arms as they could strike only 12 boundaries and four sixes in the innings. Ishan Kishan

(32) and Nehal Wadhera kept the scoreboard ticking though on a slow rate, stitching together 73 runs for the fifth wicket, until Kishan offered an easy catch to Mayank Yadav off Ravi Bishnoi. He had three hits to the fence.

A 32-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Wadhera (46, 41b, 4x4, 2x6) and Tim David (35* - 18b, 3x4, 1x6) further boosted MI’s scorecard. David's last over hitting in which he took 17 runs off Mohsin Khan still left MI facing a near-impossible task. LSG tearaway Mayank Yadav was expensive in his comeback game, taking 1/31 in 3.1 overs.

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