Mumbai stuns LSG thanks to Madhwal

Madhwal produced a sensational bowling effort as Mumbai Indians defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 81 runs in the IPL 2023 Eliminator at Chepauk on Wednesday. Madhwal scalped five wickets in 3.3 overs as Lucknow were bundled out for 101 in 16.3 overs in the 183-run chase. Mumbai will now lock horns with defending champions Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2. Akash Madhwal | Player of the Match: I have been practicing a lot and waiting for my opportunity. I have done engineering, cricket is my passion and I have been waiting for this since 2018. When we practice in the nets, the management gives us the target and we try to execute our best. Hoping to do well in the coming games and want to end up as champions. The wicket of Nicholas Pooran was most pleasing for me. Rohit Sharma | MI Skipper: That is what we have done over the years. People don’t expect us to do what we have done, but we managed to. He (Akash) was the part of the team last year as a support bowler, and once Jofra was gone and I knew he had skills and the character to do the job for us. Over the years we have seen many guys coming in from Mumbai Indians and playing for India. It is important to make them (youngsters) feel special and make them feel part of the team, my job is to just make them comfortable in the middle. They are very clear in their roles about what they need to do for the team and that’s what you want. As a team we enjoyed it (fielding). Good to see everyone contributing on the field. Coming to Chennai, we knew whole team needs to come to the party. At Wankhede you need one or two brilliant performances, but here it is a different ball game. Krunal Pandya | LSG Skipper: We were in a good position at one stage, but everything started (going wrong) when I played that shot, we should have played better cricket. That shot (his wicket) was not on, I completely take the blame for that. The ball was coming nicely on to the bat, we just had to bat better. We didn’t pl