by India Today Sports Desk: Lucknow Super Giants captain Krunal Pandya battles cramps in their thrilling win over Mumbai Indians in a crucial IP 2023 contest in Lucknow on Tuesday, May 14. Krunal revealed why he led the team in defending 177 despite his retirement. In the 16th over of Lucknow’s innings, he got injured in the thrilling match of the last over.
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Krunal Pandya walked off the field on a hot and humid evening at the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium when he was batting on 49 off 42 balls. Although Kunal showed no signs of unease, he gave several instructions to the dugout before slowly making his way to the dressing room.
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There were 4 overs left when Krunal, who shared an 82-run partnership with Marcus Stoinis, decided to retire hurt to get LSG out of trouble after 3 early wickets. Nicholas Pooran came out to bat with 4 overs remaining, prompting former and current cricketers to speculate whether it was a tactical call from LSG to retire Kunal.
former cricketer of india Sanjay Manjrekar even said It was selfless from Krunal Pandya if it was a tactical move.
Krunal went in to bowl the first over of his defense but again felt pain due to cramps on his way off the field. However, the former Mumbai Indians all-rounder returned to the ground to complete his quota of 4 overs. The left-arm spinner did a decent job with the ball and conceded just 27 runs.
Krunal said, “I was having cramps, my muscles were getting tight. I’ve always been a team player, anything for the team, very happy with the result.”
Lucknow successfully defended 177 after Ravi Bishnoi broke the dangerous partnership between Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan (90 runs in 9.4 overs), thanks to which Ravi Bishnoi really came alive.
Despite losing wickets in the middle, MI were on course to finish off the chase as Tim David was in the big hitting zone in the death overs.
With just 11 runs needed off the final over after a 19-run 19th over, the odds were in favor of MI, with David and Cameron Green in the middle.
However, left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan, who had recovered after a long injury lay-off, conceded just 5 runs for LSG in style.
Krunal Pandya heaped praise on Mohsin, saying the left-arm seamer, who took 14 wickets in 9 matches in his inaugural IPL season last year, has a big heart and would do anything to help the team achieve success. ready to do.
Mohsin has a big heart. He had surgery and playing IPL after such a thing, so no problem. It hasn’t been easy for us, really glad to end on a good note here “
The LSG leapfrogged MI to the third spot in the IPL 2023 points table. If Lucknow win their last match against KKR on Saturday, May 20, then a place in the playoffs will be confirmed.