AHMEDABAD, India, CMC – Kyle Mayers narrowly missed out on his fifth half-century of the Indian Premier League campaign but his Lucknow Super Giants crashed to a 56-run defeat at the hands of Alzarri Joseph’s Gujarat Titans here yesterday.
With Super Giants asked to chase a massive 228 for victory at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Mayers lashed 48 from 32 balls in a stunning 88-run open stand with fellow left-hander, South African Quinton de Kock, who top-scored with 70 off 41 balls.
However, Super Giants suffered a collapsed at the back end of the chase, slipping from 130 for two in the 15th to find themselves restricted to 171 for seven off their 20 overs.
Earlier, openers Shubman Gill (94 not out) and Wriddhiman Saha (81) blasted half-centuries as Titans posted a thoroughly impressive 227 for two off their 20 overs.
Sent in, Gill punched two fours and seven sixes off 51 balls while Saha counted 10 fours and four sixes in a 43-ball knock, the pair putting on 142 for the first wicket.
When the partnership was broken, Gill held the innings together, adding a further 42 for the second wicket with captain Hardik Pandya (25) and 43 in an unbroken third wicket partnership with South African David Miller (21 not out).
Mayers and de Kock then countered beautifully, the West Indies all-rounder belting seven fours and two sixes and his South African counterpart striking seven fours and three sixes.
Mayers was first to depart, top-edging a slower ball bouncer from seamer Mohit Sharma (4-29) to fine leg and Super Giants slumped thereafter, with only Ayush Badoni (21) showing any resistance.
Former West Indies white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran made only three batting at number five.
Joseph, used as a substitute, sent down a single over which cost five runs.
Mayers is the Super Giants leading scorer this season with 359 runs.
At Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, Obed McCoy’s first game of the campaign ended in defeat for his Rajasthan Royals as Sunrisers Hyderabad came away with a four-wicket win.
Choosing to bat first, Royals rallied to 214 for two off their 20 overs, the irrepressible Jos Buttler lashing 95 from 59 balls and captain Sanju Samson, an unbeaten 66 from 38 deliveries.
West Indies left-hander Shimron Hetmyer scored seven not out after arriving at the crease in the penultimate over.
Abhishek Sharma (55) and Rahul Tripathi (47) then carried the chase for Sunrisers, Heinrich Klaasen’s 12-ball 26 and Glenn Phillips’s seven-ball 25 playing key roles down the stretch as the visitors got the 17 runs required from the final over off the last ball.
McCoy sent down a single over which leaked 13 runs.
