Lucknow Super Giants amassed 257-5 against Punjab Kings in the IPL on Friday, the second highest score in the tournament’s history.
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Marcus Stoinis top scored with 72 off 40 balls, while Kyle Mayers (54 off 24), Ayush Badoni (43 off 24) and Nicholas Pooran (45 0ff 19) all added important contributions.
Unsurprisingly, there were some less that favourable bowling figures for the visitors with Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh both going for over 50 from their full allocations, while Liam Livingstone’s single over cost 19.
The Kings fell well short of their target as they were dismissed for 201 thanks to an excellent 3-30 from Naveen-ul-Haq’s four overs, a remarkable spell in the contest of the game.
The resounding win for the Super Giants took them second in the IPL table, and counts among one of the most blistering batting displays in the competition’s history.
The highest score in a decade
Lucknow’s 257 is the highest IPL score in almost exactly 10 years, after Royal Challengers Bangalore made a record 263-5 against the now-defunct Pune Warriors India on April 23, 2013.
Boasting an enviable top four of Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, RCB pulled off a remarkable 130-run victory after an unbeaten 175 off just 66 balls from Chris Gayle, still the highest individual score in IPL history.
The Super Giants fell six short of the record, but are 11 clear of the next highest total which was also set by Bangalore in 2016.
A boundary every three balls
The Super Giants hit 41 boundaries on Friday, with 14 sixes and 27 fours.
It is a relatively low six count given the overall scoring rate – Gayle hit three more on his own in his 175 – but only two IPL games in history have seen more fours.
They were again second only to RCB’s famous 2013 total on boundaries, after Gayle and co managed 42 in their 263.
Kyle Mayers on fire
The West Indian opener hammered 54 for the Super Giants before being dismissed by Rabada with the penultimate ball of the sixth over.
No batter has scored more runs in the powerplay in this year’s IPL, and Mayers has two of the four fifties scored in the first six overs this season.
Only Faf du Plessis has scored more runs than the 30-year-old’s at a better strike in IPL 2023.
Sorry night for seamers
Despite boasting established international stars such as Arshdeep, Rabada and Sam Curran in their bowling line-up, Punjab’s seamers went at 13.28 an over against Lucknow.
It is the worst economy rate by a team’s pace bowlers in IPL history as their 14 overs cost 186 runs, breaking a record that has stood since 2014.
PBKS bowled just two boundary-less overs in their innings, with Gurnoor Brar producing a tight over that went for two to open the innings on his T20 debut (his next two overs went for 40) and Rahul Chahar, the pick of Punjab’s attack, went for four in the ninth over.
A growing trend?
Punjab’s unsuccessful chase was the 20th total over 200 in this year’s IPL, already two more than the total set in last year’s tournament.
The majority (13) have come from sides batting first, but PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan still opted to bat first on Friday, presumably with one eye on the influence of dew on bowling in the second innings.
His decision backfired, and the recent glut of first-innings high scores may dissuade captains from bowling first, regardless of potential hindrances later on.
