Lucknow: 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 here 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.
The 18th over bowled by Jordan yielded 24 runs with the England pacer spraying it all over the place. He failed to nail his yorker and Stoinis was quick to dispatch his two balls for massive sixes down the ground besides collecting three fours off the short balls.
He finished the innings with a one-handed six off Akash Madhwal.
Mumbai leaked 54 runs in the last three overs.
PTI
