Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 2: At the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday, opener and wicketkeeper-batter Prabhsimran Singh and captain Shreyas Iyer’s fifty-run partnership swept the Punjab Kings team to victory over the Lucknow Super Giants by eight wickets.

With this victory, the PBKS team rose to second place in the current 18th edition of the lucrative league’s points standings, while the Rishabh Pant-led team dropped to sixth place after the defeat.

PBKS openers Prabhsimran Singh (69 runs off 34 balls) and Priyansh Arya (8 runs off 9 balls) assaulted the Super Giants bowlers from the opening over as they chased a total of 172 runs. Before Arya was sent to the pavilion in the third over, the two hitters quickly established a partnership of 26 runs off 17 balls.

After Arya left, Prabhsimran and team captain Shreyas Iyer, a right-hand batsman, stepped out in the middle to bat.

Prabsimran hit a boundary off the bowling of right-arm leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi to help the Shreyas Iyer-led team reach the 50-run milestone on the second ball of the sixth over.

As the right-hander got a single off left-arm spinner M. Siddharth’s bowling, Prabhsimran reached his half-century on the last delivery of the seventh over.

When Iyer took a single off right-arm seamer Shardul Thakur’s bowling, the Punjab-based team reached the 100-run milestone on the first delivery of the tenth over.

At 110, the visitors lost the wicket of set batsman Prabhsimran, who returned to the dressing room after his innings of 69 runs, which included three maximums and nine boundaries.

Nehal Wadhera, a left-hander, joined captain Iyer in the middle and came out to bat as an impact player after Prabhsimran’s expulsion. With eight wickets remaining in the 17th over, both players performed with positivity and led their team to victory.

In his four-over performance, in which he gave up thirty runs, uncapped leg-spinner Digvesh Singh Rathi claimed both of the wickets for the Lucknow team.

After PBKS won the toss and chose to bowl first earlier in the first innings, LSG got off to a bad start as Arshdeep Singh’s slower ball put an in-form Mitchell Marsh out for a golden duck, putting LSG at 1/1 after 0.4 overs.

Aiden Markram broke the shackles for LSG in the third over, smashing Arshdeep for three boundaries over the ground. Against Lockie Ferguson, he proceeded to wreak havoc by hitting a four and a six over deep backward point, but his stumps were struck by an inswinging ball. After scoring a solid 28 in 18 balls, with four boundaries and a six, Markram was dismissed. 32/2 in 3.5 overs was LSG’s score.

Captain Rishabh Pant too did not last long due to a bad pull effort; he was dismissed for only two when Yuzi Chahal caught a Glenn Maxwell ball at short fine leg. LSG finished 4.5 overs at 35/3.

LSG had a poor start in front of the home crowd in Lucknow after being reduced to 39/3 at the conclusion of the powerplay in six overs by the combination of Nichola Pooran and Ayush Badoni.

Pooran hit a six against Marcus Stoinis and a few of boundaries against Maxwell. In 7.1 overs, LSG reached their 50-run milestone.

Pooran (33*) and Badoni (11*) were both undefeated when he hit Chahal for two fours and sixes in the tenth over, scoring 15 runs to finish the first ten overs at 76/3.

These two put up a counterattacking fifty-run partnership in 37 balls. Pooran’s bold knock at 44 in 30 balls, which was peppered with five fours and two sixes, was halted by a brilliant catch by Maxwell on a quick delivery from Chahal. LSG finished 11.3 overs at 89/4.

Ayush Badoni hit a six over extra deep cover to help LSG achieve their 100-run mark in 13 overs. After hitting a few boundaries against spinners, the South African was caught by Prabhsimran Singh on a delivery from Marco Jansen, ending his brief partnership with David Miller (19 in 18 balls, with three fours). LSG finished 15.5 overs at 119/5.

Badoni and Abdul Samad hit 150 runs in 17.4 overs after stealing runs off Arshdeep in the 18th over. Together, the two scored 20 runs with three fours and a six. In the last over, however, Jansen conceded only eight runs.

Maxwell caught Badoni for 41 in 33 balls, including three sixes and a four, after he had gone high. LSG finished 19.2 overs at 166/6. Priyansh Arya’s catch of Samad for 27 in 12 balls (with two fours and two sixes) completed his cameo as well. LSG finished 19.4 overs at 169/7.

Avesh Khan (0*) and Shardul Thakur (3*) were undefeated as LSG concluded at 171/7 in 20 overs.

The leading wicket-taker for PBKS was Arshdeep (3/43). Among the wickets were Jansen, Maxwell, Chahal, and Lockie.

Brief score: Punjab Kings 177/2 in 16.2 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 69, Shreyas Iyer 52, Digvesh Singh Rathi 2/30) vs. Lucknow Super Giants 171/7 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 44, Ayush Badoni 41, Arshdeep Singh 3/43).