Twitter Reactions: KL Rahul's majestic ton keeps MI waiting for their first two points in IPL 2022

Mumbai Indians have slipped to their sixth loss in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Lucknow Super Giants put on a professional performance with both bat and ball on the day to keep the five-time champions at bay. KL Rahul was the star of the day scoring his second century as captain and then the Avesh Khan-led bowling attack did just enough to win the game by 18 runs.

Earlier, it was all about KL Rahul after LSG were put in to bat first by Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma. Rahul looked in excellent touch right from the word go and played some exquisite strokes. He didn’t spare any bowler who came his way, apart from Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled superbly not for the first time this season. However, Rahul took full toll of the rest of the hapless bowling line-up, especially of Tymal Mills and Fabian Allen who went for 100 off their seven overs combined.

Even as Rahul played a sublime knock, he was ably supported by Quinton de Kock and Manish Pandey at the other end, scoring 24 off 13, and 38 off 29 respectively. Though the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Deepak Hooda couldn’t do much, it was KL Rahul who was bossing the proceedings at the other end. There was finesse, power, and style included in his knock as he reached his century in the penultimate over of the innings and it was followed by his ‘shut the outside noise‘ trademark celebration.

MI made a brief comeback in the death overs with Jaydev Unadkat bowling a terrific last over, conceding only four runs. But even then LSG managed to score 199 runs for the loss of four wickets in their 20 overs with Rahul remaining unbeaten on 103 off 60 deliveries.

MI fight hard but fall short yet again

The 200-run chase didn’t begin on a great note for the five-time champions. Rohit Sharma’s poor run in the season continued as Avesh Khan dismissed him. However, Dewald Brevis came out and once again batted freely to give AB de Villiers’ vibes. His quickfire 31 off just 13 deliveries helped MI get their best powerplay score in IPL 2022. But Avesh Khan was brilliant to get his wicket as well with his variations. At the other end, Ishan Kishan‘s frustrating stay also ended as he dragged one back on to his stumps off Marcus Stoinis.

At 57/3 in the seventh over, MI needed someone to rebuild the innings and once again, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav stitched a crucial stand. They got off the blocks pretty soon to bring the equation down to 84 runs off the last seven overs. But for some reason, runs didn’t come at an expected rate in the lead up to the death overs. Clearly, the pressure was on the five-time champions as they needed 75 runs off the last five overs. To make things worse, Surya got out in the 16th over off Ravi Bishnoi and left a little too much for Kieron Pollard to do.

Nevertheless, the Caribbean veteran tried his best by hitting a few lusty blows. Some timely shots from Jaydev Unadkat and Murugan Ashwin also helped but LSG’s bowlers were excellent in executing their plans bowling to Pollard. They kept him at bay from hitting sixes and eventually the IPL debutants registered their fourth win in six matches to climb to the second place. MI, on the other hand, continued to languish at the bottom of the table with this 18-run loss, their sixth consecutive as they still await their first points in IPL 2022.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: