Akash Madhwal produced a brilliant bowling effort, helping Mumbai Indians (MI) to crush Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 81 runs in the Eliminator. MI will take on defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 2 on May 26 (Friday) to earn a place in the summit clash. Chasing 183, LSG batters never found their momentum going and lost their wickets cheaply. Madhwal starred with figures of 5/5 in 3.3 overs as LGS was bowled out for 101.

Opting to bat first, Rohit Sharma (11) and Ishan Kishan (15) failed to give MI a good start as Naveen-ul-Haq and Yash Thakur removed both openers inside the powerplay overs. Cameron Green alongside Suryakumar Yadav rebuilt the MI innings with a fine partnership of 66 runs. Naveen-ul-Haq pulled things back in the 11th over by dismissing the settled batters Suryakumar (33) and Green (41).

Tilak Verma and Tim David chipped in with 26 and 13 respectively. Nehal Wadhera gave an excellent finishing touch, scoring 23 off 12 balls and guiding MI to a defendable total of 182/8 in 20 overs. For LSG, Naveen-ul-Haq was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets.

LSG’s chase dealt with an early blow as Madhwal and Chris Jordan dismissed Prerak Mankad (3) and power-hitter Kyle Mayers (18) quickly. Piyush Chawla then bagged Krunal Pandya (8) to break the partnership of 46 runs. Madhwal was brought back into the attack and that change from MI skipper was fruitful as the pacer struck twice to give a huge blow to LSG. Poor running between the wickets also haunted Lucknow. Marcus Stoinis, who top-scored 40, Deepak Hooda, and Krishnappa Gowtham lost their wickets in the form of run-out. Finally, LSG surrendered to dominant MI.