Marcus Stoinis gave the Krunal Pandya-led Lucknow Super Giants a boost with an unbeaten 89 against Mumbai Indians in an IPL 2023 match in Lucknow on Tuesday. While Stoinis was going hammer and tongs, Pandya too looked solid as he played the anchor role. He was batting on 49 off 42 balls at the end of the 16th over when he could be seen hobbling. Before the start of the next over, he left the field. While rules permit a batter to be retired out, in which a batter can declare himself out anytime during his innings, there was confusion whether Krunal Pandya was retired hurt or retired out. Pandya later came on to the field to lead the side during LSG’s bowling.
Even India star spinner R Ashwin tweeted: “Retired out? #LSGvsMI #KrunalPandya”
Retired out? #LSGvsMI #KrunalPandya
— Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) May 16, 2023
The tweet had a sharp reply from a user, saying: “Utterly cheating”
To which, Ashwin commented: “The rules permit you to do it! There is no cheating”
The rules permit you to do it! There is no cheating
— Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) May 16, 2023
However, after the game, Krunal cleared that he had retired hurt. “I was having cramps, I pulled a muscle,” said the LSG skipper after the game.
Marcus Stoinis flaunted his raw power on way to a career-best 89 not out in the IPL as Lucknow Super Giants recovered from a poor start to post 177 for three against Mumbai Indians on a challenging pitch on Tuesday. Stoinis smashed seven sixes in his belligerent 47-ball effort and shared an 82 run stand with stand in skipper Krunal Pandya (49 retired hurt) after LSG found themselves reeling at 35 for three in the seventh over.
As it has been the case through the season, batters had a tough time on a two paced surface.
LSG made a questionable call to leave out their leading run getter of the season, Kyle Myers, and the move did not work. Replacing him at the top, Deepak Hooda (5) was undone by a slower ball from Jason Behrendorff The next ball from the left-arm pacer was angled away and Prerak Mankad got a faint touch on way to the wicketkeeper while trying to run towards the third man.
The situation got worse for LSG when Quinton de Kock (16 off 15) fell in the seventh over to leave the home team reeling in the seventh over.
De Kock went for the drive off a googly from the wily Piyush Chawla but ended up getting caught behind.
The onus was on the big-hitting Stoinis and Krunal to resurrect the innings and they did that with a gritty stand before the latter got retired hurt after being seen in a bit of discomfort in the 16th over.
After that it was all Stoinis, who began his innings with massive sixes off spinners Hrithik Shokeen and Chawla in successive overs.
Stroke making was tough in the prevailing conditions but Stoinis used his brute force to get the much needed boundaries and sixes. LSG won the game by five runs.
With PTI inputs
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