IPL 2023: Kyle Mayers and Mark Wood star as Lucknow Super Giants defeat Delhi Capitals by 50 runs

Kyle Mayers’ brilliance with the bat and Mark Wood’s five-wicket haul handed LSG a 50-run win in their opening match of IPL 2023 against DC on Saturday.

Mayers scored 73 runs while Wood ended up with figures of 5/14 in his four overs as the Capitals crumbled in their chase of 194 runs in Lucknow.

DC had won the toss on the day and put LSG into bat. The home team’s innings started off very slowly as KL Rahul and Mayers struggled to get going early on.

The DC bowlers were on the money and were provided with an early breakthrough when the score was 19 as Rahul was dismissed by Chetan Sakariya.

Deepak Hooda then joined Mayers in the middle and the West Indian batter started to break the shackles and play some big shots with free will. Both men put on a 79-run partnership with Mayers being the chief destroyer on the night.

The opener took a liking to Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as his innings of 73 came in just 38 deliveries and his knock had two boundaries and seven sixes.

The DC bowlers pulled things back with the quick wickets of Hooda and Mayers. Marcus Stoinis also struggled to make an impact and Nicholas Pooran took on the mantle to regain the momentum.

The West Indies batter scored 36 off 21 deliveries to give some late impetus to the LSG innings. Ayush Badoni also played a good cameo and Krishnappa Gowtham, the Impact Player for LSG, finished things off with a six of the final ball as LSG reached 193 runs in their 20 overs.

Warner and Prithvi Shaw got DC off to a quick start as they scored 41 runs in 4.2 overs before Wood decided to cause destruction. In consecutive deliveries, the England pacer castled both Shaw and Mitchell Marsh to put LSG in the driver’s seat.

Wood then dismissed Sarfaraz Khan as DC were 48 for three and in all sorts of trouble in the chase. Rossouw and Warner steadied the ship for a bit before the South African batter was trapped in front of the stumps by Ravi Bishnoi.

Bishnoi then got the dangerous Rovman Powell cheaply as DC were left reeling at 94 for five. Warner did get to a fifty but his innings was slow and then was dismissed for 56 as the DC run chase was more or less done.

Axar played a couple of lusty blows but he was Wood’s fourth victim of the day. The England pacer then picked up his maiden IPL five-wicket haul by getting wicket of Sakariya as LSG won the match by 50 runs.