Prabhsimran, Iyer shine as PBKS beat LSG by 8 wickets

LUCKNOW: The pint-sized Prabhsimran Singh packed a mean punch in his enthralling 34-ball 69 as Punjab Kings outclassed Lucknow Super Giants by 8 wickets with a commanding all-round performance in an IPL game here on Monday.

Chasing a target of 172 on a track that offered grip and variable bounce, Punjab was off to a rollicking start, courtesy Prabhsimran, who hammered the LSG bowling attack into submission in the first 10 overs with nine fours and three sixes, to effectively kill the contest.

It was then a cakewalk for his skipper Shreyas Iyer (52 not out off 30 balls) with the chase being completed in 16.2 overs to increase the woes for an out-of-form LSG captain Rishabh Pant, who looked bereft of ideas.

Young Nehal Wadhera (43 not out off 25 balls) after initial struggle also picked up some confidence-boosting easy runs towards the end.

The match was won and lost in the two Powerplays where the host was outplayed.

In the batting Powerplay, it was down to 39 for 3 after losing three of its top-order players, leaving the middle-order with a lot of heavy-lifting to do.

It was a collective bowling effort from Punjab, be it pacers Arshdeep Singh (3/43 in 4 overs), Lockie Ferguson (1/126 in 3 overs), Marco Jansen (1/28 in 4 overs) or spinners Glenn Maxwell (1/22 in 3 overs) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/36 in 4 overs).

When Punjab Kings batted, Prabhsimran clobbered the pacers and spinners alike scoring 45 of the 62 runs that the visitor picked up in its first six overs.

LSG seems to have the weakest bowling attack in this IPL. With Mayank Yadav unavailable indefinitely and main spinner Ravi Bishnoi having an uncharacteristically poor season, the team’s bowling options seem to be underperforming. The attack, featuring Shardul Thakur—who was unsold initially—and a frequently inconsistent Avesh Khan, has yet to inspire much confidence.

Earlier, on a track that seemed two-paced with variable bounce, Punjab Kings bowlers led by the ever-dependable Arshdeep knocked off the LSG top order within first six overs and contributions from in-form Nicholas Pooran (44 off 30) and Ayush Badoni (41 off 33 balls) wasn’t enough to put a challenging score on board.

Credit should also be given to skipper Iyer, whose intelligent field placements also ensured that LSG was never in control of the situation.

While some deliveries gripped the surface and the odd ball bounced a bit more than expected, Pooran was the only batter who seemed at ease, comfortably handling both pacers and spinners alike.

But to Iyer’s credit, he started with a deep extra cover in the Powerplay just to prevent the southpaw from teeing off

with a cover drive.