IPL 2023: Marcus Stoinis, spinners, Mohsin Khan help LSG upstage star-studded Mumbai

Synopsis: Marcus Stoinis’ powerhouse innings and Ravi Bishnoi’s game-changing wickets hand Lucknow a crucial win for their playoff hopes
On a ground where the par score is 142, Lucknow Super Giants would have felt comfortable after notching 177 after a swashbuckling 89 from Marcus Stoinis.
But after a brilliant opening stand between Rohit Sharma, who showed flashes of genius after being out of form for much of this season, and Ishan Kishan, who toyed with the Lucknow pacers to hit a 39-ball 59, Mumbai were 92-1 after 10 overs. Lucknow would have been concerned at that stage.

Maza aaya? 😎 pic.twitter.com/oAJY4fNZKu
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) May 16, 2023
This was one of the most crucial contests of the league season – as crucial as it can get in a franchise tournament without relegation or performance-based financial rewards – as the winners would have playoff qualification in their own hands. And thrills and mishaps followed thanks, as the match went down to the wire.
A 19-run penultimate over ensured that Mumbai were slightly ahead in the contest despite a lull during the second half of their run chase, but clutch bowling from Mohsin Khan – who, visibly emotional, revealed that his father was in ICU for the last 10 days – gave Lucknow a five-run win, and now they have one foot in the playoffs.
Faith in spin
The Ekana Stadium in Lucknow is infamous for its low-scoring, and many a time low-quality, matches due to the sluggish surface. Lucknow themselves do not have a great record here – winning just three of the six completed home games – but their decision to back their spinners paid off.
The black soil turners have made it the lowest-scoring ground in the IPL, where the average run rate prior to this match stood at 7.1 in a season that has seen the most 200+ scores in the league’s hory. The shift to a red soil pitch – which is known to aid pace and bounce – might have prompted Mumbai to play two spinners as opposed to Lucknow’s three. The boundary lengths were also disproportionate, one side of the square was 71 metres while the other 61, meaning the spinners could be targeted.
But it was Lucknow’s spinners in the middle overs who turned the contest around after Mumbai’s strong start. Ravi Bishnoi’s leg-breaks halted the momentum, bowling a slower one to bait Rohit and getting him caught in the deep. He later cleaned up Kishan in similar fashion, making him pull a googly to a fielder near the rope. Their third spinner Swapnil Singh only bowled one over, but Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya caused much of the second-half slowdown.
Their death bowling impressed too. Mumbai conceded 54 in their final three overs, giving gifts in the slot and missing their lines. Lucknow conceded 33 in the corresponding overs, 19 of which came in Naveen ul-Haq’s error-ridden 19th. It was Mohsin, then, who came back from a disappointing showing in the Powerplay to give only five runs away in the final over, nailing three yorkers outside the off-stump to perfection to round off the win.
Surya’s away slump
After a slow start to the tournament, Suryakumar Yadav’s recent showings have been some of the highlights of this season, becoming Mumbai’s highest run-getter with 486 runs. But much of that good form has come at the Wankhede Stadium.
Surya getting bowled trying to play scoop shot. (AP)
He averaged 68.40 at home striking at 206.02, and just 22.83 at a strike rate of 161.17 away from home coming into Tuesday’s fixture. He did not change the trend in this game either. In typical fashion, trying to get across to a ball well outside off and scoop it in the gap over fine leg, he slightly mimed his shot and knocked over his off- stump instead. It was the moment when the pendulum swung Lucknow’s way.
Straight-bat slogging
It was Chris Jordan’s 24-run 18th over when the game seemed to be getting out of Mumbai’s hands, as Stoinis, in the middle since the Powerplay, smashed the ball to all parts of the ground. Two sixes mirrored each other, a slower one pitched slightly short and a low full toss both driven over long-on. The three fours showed Stoinis’ range, a swivelling pull and flick beyond fine leg along with a late cut through backward point in between. Jordan, who consently missed his line and length, ended his spell with 0-50, and made sure Lucknow made a match of the tie.
The Australian kicked off from there, hitting three more big ones in the next two overs to single-handedly drag Lucknow from 123 in 17 overs, to a well-above-par 177. Jordan’s final over perfectly encapsulated Stoinis’ innings, with the Aussie hitting a 47-ball 89 – his highest score in the IPL – on a sluggish surface with little help from the rest of his team. Stoinis packed a punch, targeting Mumbai’s pacers, but hit all his shots with a straight bat, manipulating the field and the lopsided boundary lengths.

There has been plenty of debate around the role of a batsman taking the game deep in modern-day T20s, but much like Prabhsmiran Singh’s ton in Delhi on Saturday, Stoinis’ innings is something of a prototype to follow. As Krunal Pandya dropped anchor, retiring hurt after a 42-ball 49, he made sure that scoreboard pressure never overwhelmed the batting side, and his own strike rate never fell below 130.