MI vs LSG

So, that brings us to the close of this encounter and also the close of this year's IPL for two team MI and LSG. MI end with yet another demoralizing loss and LSG go home with a bittersweet victory. Tomorrow, all the eyeballs will be on what is being touted as the biggest game of the league this year, RCB vs CSK, the eliminator before the official eliminator. Let us pray that rain does not play spoilsport in what promises to be a mouth-watering clash. For now, this is Sourabh and Arya wishing you a good night. Keep following Sportskeeda!

Nicholas Pooran has been named as the Player of the match, here's what he had to say - Personally, I had to do my job which was to find a way and finish the game. I have been inconsistent to be fair to myself, wanted to get some experience and make it count. I have batted at different positions, I love the new ball but it will be selfish of me so whatever the team demands I am happy to do that. I have been blessed, when I went through the accident I did not know whether I will play or not. The teams have invested in me and it is my job to repay them. Of course now the world cup is coming. The focus will shift there, it is back home really looking forward to having a good time

KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants' captain) - Very disappointing, at the beginning of the season I felt we had a strong team and all bases covered. A couple of injuries at the start, that always happens but those really hampered us. We did not come together as bowlers and batters, it was a good game today. We would have liked to play these games more where the batters score runs, the bowlers take wickets. Credit to the franchise for investing in fast bowlers, we sent Yudhvir and Mayank to South Africa to train with Morne (Morkel). Mohsin was injured too, the franchise took great care of the fast bowlers. Not sure (on his position in the T20 setup), not a lot of T20 coming forward so we will see as it goes. For Pooran it was never a question, when we had Stoinis at 3 then we did not want two of our big-hitters to bat together. I will be cheering for India along with my father-in-law.

Krunal Pandya: Obviously it's been a tough season for us. Good to get a win and finish on a high. Nontheless ending the league stage with a win is quite pleasing. I mean it's just that I guess fielding is more related to fitness. Whatever the hard work you put in training wise is a reflection of this. Was happy to be able to pull that off.

Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians captain): I mean quote difficult this season. We didn't play good quality cricket which eventually costed us the whole season. It's a professional world. There will be good and bad days but as professional cricketers, we have to do that but as a group we didn't play too well and it shows in the results. Too early to be pointing out what went wrong. Maybe get this game done and look forward for the upcoming season.

MATCH SUMMARY

Lucknow Super Giants won by 18 runs

Nicholas Pooran 75(29) | Ravi Bishnoi 2/37(4)
Rohit Sharma 68(38) | Nuwan Thushara 3/28(4)

That run chase was just like the season for MI, had a lot of potential, did not live up to the expectations, the fortune deserted them, could not win the crucial moments and came up as the last one.

They got off to a brilliant start courtesy Rohit Sharma and it looked like it would be a perfect gift to the fans from the man who might have played his last game with the franchise as the Indian skipper blazed away to a fifty in the seventh over. He was playing some trademark shots and was taking the crowd along with him.

He stitched a 88-run opening partnership with Brewis who got out just when he started to look good. Surya got out on a duck after that and the big wicket Rohit was snapped up by Bishnoi soon after.

Post that, it was a struggle for most of the batters who could not get the innings going. Hardik got a couple away but got out sooner than he would have liked. It was Naman Dhir who kept the flame burning until the end as he scored an unbeaten half-century but it was too much to do in the end.

Lucknow were clinical in the field and with the ball as well with Bishnoi and Naveen ul Haq getting two wickets each, a special mention to Krunal Pandya who bowled a miserly spell in the middle along with a wicket as well as a wicket for Mohsin.

Lucknow end their season with a bittersweet victory in a season of what could have been for them while MI would like to forget this abysmal season and there is a whole lot of things for them to work on moving forward.

19.6 Naveen-ul-Haq to Naman Dhir, SIX! Naman Dhir finishes the game off with a massive six over the extra cover boundary. What an incredible shot, fuller outside off and Naman held his shape to drill that over the fence. Nonetheless, LSG has won by 18 runs. 

19.5 Naveen-ul-Haq to Naman Dhir, Naman moves across the off-stump and tries to ramp this towards the fine leg region, trickles off his pads towards short third, doesn't take the single as he wants to face the final  ball. 

19.4 Naveen-ul-Haq to Romario Shepherd, on a good-length a shade outside off, eased away from the crease past the cover-point region and takes a single. 

19.3 Naveen-ul-Haq to Ishan Kishan, WICKET! Ishan Kishan losing his shape while swinging across the line and has to head back to the pavilion. On a good-length angling across Ishan, he goes for an almighty swing across the line and gets an inside edge onto his stumps. The final nail in the coffin for MI.

Ishan Kishan b Naveen-ul-Haq 14 (15b, 1x4, 0x6).