Punjab Kings beat Lucknow Super Giants by 37 runs. Chasing 236 runs, Lucknow Super Giants lost five wickets early on. With the result, Punjab Kings have gone to second place with 15 points, and LSG slip down to seventh place with 10 points. It was never going to be easy, but given how far they have come in the chase, all they needed was a couple of good partnerships at the top. It was never going to be a wicket that could have slowed down or do something out of the ordinary, it is just the panic that sets in that has consumed them.
With that, Punjab are a step closer to playoffs, meanwhile LSG go a few back. Skipper Rishabh Pant continued to disappoint with the bat scoring just 18 runs. Pant who was brought for Rs.27 crore has been struggling since the start of the season.
The defeat has dented LSG playoff chances. Prabhsimran Singh smashed a blistering 48-ball 91 and shared a 78-run stand with skipper Shreyas Iyer (45) to lay the foundation, before Nehal Wadhera (16), Shashank Singh (33) and Marcus Stoinis (15) chipped in to propel PBKS to an imposing 236 for five.
In reply, Ayush Badoni fought a lone battle with a valiant 40-ball 74 but lacked support from the other end as LSG were restricted to 199 for 7 in 20 overs, slumping to their sixth loss in 11 games. Arshdeep Singh (3/16) led the bowling charge for Punjab, while Azmatullah Omarzai (2/33) also chipped in with key wickets.
