CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress / Bhopal: More than halfway into the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, Mumbai Indians (MI) seem to be running out of steam. Off-field issues and under-performance have hampered MI’s IPL campaign so far, and they find themselves in ninth place with six points from 10 matches , and an improbable task of making the playoffs .

MI’s latest setback came on Tuesday following a four-wicket loss to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as Marcus Stoinis led a valiant fightback. However, it was not just the Australian who starred for LSG as they climbed to third in the standings, but the bowlers as well, who set the platform.

Bowlers’ day out

It’s been a batters’ IPL for the most part but LSG seemed to have briefly broken that trend. The last couple of games, including Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals on Monday,  have been a welcome sign for bowlers.

It was quite pleasing to see that kind of balance between bat and ball again at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium. The slow pitch has been behind low scores at the venue. The average first innings score at the venue is 187, which is not a low score, but looking at the kind of scores teams have posted this tournament, one might consider it to be so.

On Tuesday, Lucknow’s decision to bowl first paid off. They restricted MI to 144/7 on the back of a disciplined and tidy effort from the bowlers. Naveen-ul-Haq returned to the LSG playing XI and so did pacer Mayank Yadav, who came back from an injury. Mayank, however, hobbled off the field after bowling the first ball of his fourth over, and as a result, the Afghanistan international completed the former’s over.

And yet, just before walking off, Mayank managed to get a wicket, that of Mohammad Nabi. It was a hard length from the 21-year-old on middle and off, Nabi was beaten by the extra pace and got an inside edge that crashed onto the off-stump. The Afghan was clean bowled and was undone by the pace of Mayank’s delivery, which was at 143.1 kph.

LSG captain KL Rahul later gave an update on the youngster’s injury, saying it was just a “slight pain”. “I have not really spoken to him. He had slight pain in his side and after the first ball, he said that there was a bit of pain. Thought there was no need to risk it, he is still a young lad,” said Rahul after the match.

While Naveen (1/15) was the most economical bowler (3.90), it was Mohsin Khan (2/36) who was the pick of the bowlers. Mohsin and Marcus Stoinis (1/19) set the platform in the powerplay overs -MI were in trouble at 28/4 in the powerplay, their lowest score in this phase during this season.

In the second ball of the second over, Rohit hit Mohsin for a boundary over the wicketkeeper’s head, but the pacer got his revenge the very next ball. Rohit looked to slice a full length ball from Mohsin over cover, but found Stoinis with the catch at short extra cover.

It was then Stoinis’ turn as the Aussie struck in the third over with the dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav. LSG utilised their DRS review to the best for a caught behind appeal. Replays and Hawkeye showed that the ball hit SKY’s glove before flying to the hands of Rahul, the wicketkeeper.