Mumbai Indians (MI) marched into Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 with a dominating win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.
Winning the toss, Mumbai elected to bat first and set a challenging target for Lucknow. MI innings saw contributions from several batters. Cameron Green played a magnificent knock, scoring 41 runs off just 23 deliveries, including six fours and a six. Similarly, Suryakumar Yadav also played a vital role, scoring 33 runs off 20 balls with two fours and two sixes. Tilak Varma contributed 26 runs off 22 deliveries, including two sixes and Nehal Wadhera chipped in with a quick cameo, adding 23 runs off 12 balls.
For LSG, Naveen-ul-Haq and Yash Thakur were the pick of the bowlers, taking four and three wickets respectively as MI finished their innings with a total of 182 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing a target of 183 runs, Lucknow struggled right from the start of their innings. Marcus Stoinis fought valiantly and top-scored with 40 runs off 27 balls, including five fours and a six. However, the rest of the batting lineup faltered against a disciplined bowling performance from Mumbai.
Akash Madhwal was the standout performer with the ball, picking up an impressive five-wicket haul by conceding just five runs in his 3.3 overs. Chris Jordan and Piyush Chawla also made significant contributions, claiming one wicket each. LSG were eventually bowled out for just 101 runs in 16.3 overs.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
A MI-ghty special victory! 😎
The Mumbai Indians win by 81 runs and progress to the #Qualifier2 of #TATAIPL 2023 👏🏻👏🏻
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/CVo5K1wG31#TATAIPL | #Eliminator | #LSGvMI pic.twitter.com/77zW6NmInn
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 24, 2023
What a spell from Akash Madhwal🔥🔥🔥. Congratulations @mipaltan, great win 🙌🏾
— Jasprit Bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) May 24, 2023
How good was Akash Madhwal today. Heartening to see his growth game by game. Five-wicket haul in a big game shows how good a bowler he his. Keep up the good work champ 👏👏 #AkashMadhwal #LSGvMI #IPL2023 #MI pic.twitter.com/Svrtw1CDrB
— Vinay Kumar R (@Vinay_Kumar_R) May 24, 2023
Akash Madhwal 5 wickets in the eliminator after the 4 he took in the last league game which was a do or die game . Such a delight to see newcomers doing well. This is the season where many of the experience guys have had a great season and many newcomers have made a big mark.… pic.twitter.com/ofZI0yk8af
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) May 24, 2023
Akash Madhwal what a performance! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Showed the potential earlier in the season when he conceded just 6 runs in the 20th over v RCB at Wankhede. Tonight he hit his peak!— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) May 24, 2023
Rohit shows great captaincy is also about being practical. MI has mostly won chasing in this IPL but for the high-pressure eliminator, Rohit opts to bat. He didn't go by stats, he played smart. @ImRo45
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 24, 2023
Mumbai Indians or Gujarat Titans, it's going to be real tough challenge for CSK in final. Need one masterclass + Thala magic.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) May 24, 2023
Akash Madhwal ensures a new team won’t be winning the IPL. Fabulous performance by him in the last 2 games and a great win for Mumbai. #LSGvMI pic.twitter.com/AbWBn4Egbl
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) May 24, 2023
No Bumrah.
No Archer.
No Jhyle Richardson.And he has won his 11th match in Play-offs as a captain from 14 games. Take a bow, Rohit. pic.twitter.com/Dy2MvtGzvD
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 24, 2023
Best bowling figures by uncapped player in IPL:
5/5 – AKASH MADHWAL (MI) v LSG, today
5/14 – Ankit Rajpoot (PBKS) v SRH, 2018
5/20 – Varun Chakravarthy (KKR) v DC, 2020
5/25 – Umran Malik (SRH) v GT, 2022
5/27 – Harshal Patel (RCB) v MI, 2021— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) May 24, 2023
The scouting of Mumbai Indians deserves alot of credit.
Akash Madhwal becomes the hero for them in the most important match of the year. They really build stars under them! pic.twitter.com/OoICObN2uQ
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 24, 2023
Champions are back, Mumbai are back, What a team with Rohit as leader. pic.twitter.com/YYAVewxjDN
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 24, 2023
Qualifier 2 👀🤭 pic.twitter.com/sh61dP9WpR
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 24, 2023
Akash Madhwal wins the Eliminator for MI with figures of 5/5.
He’s the first bowler ever to take a five-wkt haul in IPL playoffs/knockouts. #MIvLSG pic.twitter.com/g8QrMCgwtD
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) May 24, 2023