Lucknow Super Giants all-rounder Marcus Stoinis was delighted to contribute with the ball after they won against Rajasthan Royals by 10 runs at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur on Wednesday. Stoinis returned with impressive figures of 2-28 in his quota of four overs and helped his team 154 runs on a slow pitch.
The big Australian accounted for both Rajasthan Royals openers – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler. Stoinis made great use of the slower and bowled accurately to reap his rewards.
Moreover, Stoinis had earlier added the finishing touches as he had scored 21 runs from 16 balls to help LSG go past the 150-run mark.
Stoinis was awarded Player of the Match for his fine knock. He said in the post-match presentation, “Nice to get involved with the ball, had no real plans to get Jos out that way but I just used some cricketing smarts and bowled it short into the wicket. We identified this is a difficult wicket, so we realised we don’t need a 50 off 20 balls on this surface. (On whether he will bowl more) You will have to ask the skipper that question, but fitness wise I’m ready to go. All good.”
On the other hand, Kyle Mayers also played a key role in LSG’s win. The left-hander 51 runs from 42 balls on a difficult pitch and also added 82 runs with his skipper KL Rahul. Mayers scored four fours and three sixes in his knock.
He said after the game, “Any victory away from home is good, we always stress on winning away from home. I played some national cricket and came into this tournament. It was a difficult pitch for strokeplay. I was trying to hit more boundaries than sixes, not an easy pitch to come in and start hitting. It was critical to assess and understand that I need some balls to get used to this pitch. I think it (pitch) was just playing low. In terms of bounce it was up and down. Variable bounce was the hardest to handle today.”
Lucknow Super Giants did a fine job with the ball as they were able to restrict the opposition below 150. Moreover, Avesh Khan scalped three wickets and conceded only 25 runs in his quota of four overs.
Lucknow Super Giants will next face Gujarat Titans at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday.
