On a slow Lucknow pitch, in a refreshing change from the recent hit-a-thons in IPL 2024, hosts Lucknow Super Giants edged out Mumbai Indians by four wickets in a low-scoring thriller on Tuesday. The result seemed a foregone conclusion once Marcus Stoinis and KL Rahul put on a 58-run stand for the second wicket in 6.4 overs with their all-round bowling show having restricted the visitors to 144/7. But MI's pacers - Jasprit Bumrah (0-17) and Hardik Pandya (2-26) - dragged the fight down to the final over with their miserly spells, only to eventually concede the two points. LSG, as a result, have leapfrogged to third spot in the points table with 12 points in 10 games, pushing CSK down to fourth.

The difference

: Powerplay

As old adages go, early wickets are a recipe for disaster. And MI lost them in a heap - four of their top-five were back in the hut in just 5.2 overs, leaving the middle and lower order to do the heavy lifting. Comparatively, LSG were off to a flier after a watchful start. With Nuwan Thushara and Bumrah getting the ball to swing, the second-wicket pair of Stoinis and Rahul first got their eye in, in the first half of the powerplay, and then went ballistic against Gerald Coetzee and Thushara to help LSG quickly overtake the asking rate.

MI: 28/4 (RR 4.67, 4s/6s:2/1)

Birthday boy Rohit Sharma fed a sitter to short cover, losing his wicket yet another time to a left-arm pacer this IPL. Stoinis, who was brought on for the match-up against Ishan Kishan, instead ended up sending Suryakumar Yadav back with a slower ball - his nemesis this season. Tilak Varma was run-out at the non-striker's end, rattled by the LBW appeal and losing sight of the ball for a moment to attempt the risky single. And the MI skipper perished chasing an expansive drive first ball , outside edging to Rahul behind the stumps. MI played 17 dots in the phase, losing more wickets than their boundary count.

MI: 68/1 (RR: 7.55, 4s/6s: 6/2)

It was the slowest fifty partnership of the season - 53 off 56 balls - but it was the need of the hour for MI. Nehal Wadhera (46 off 41) and Ishan Kishan (32 off 36) dug in to help their team out of a hole. Set batter Kishan got the boundaries flowing again even as it was difficult to dispatch the spinners frequently. One too many, however, and the MI opener top-edged a Ravi Bishnoi googly attempting a premeditated sweep. The costliest over of MI's innings came when Wadhera decided he'd had enough, and smacked back-to-back sixes off Mayank Yadav.

MI: 48/2 (RR: 9.6, 4s/6s: 4/1)

With Wadhera switching gears, in the company of big-hitting Tim David, MI would have fancied a better score than the projections. But, Mohsin Khan returned with a perfect yorker to deny him a half-century. Mohammad Nabi continued to disappoint and if it wasn't for David's take-down of Mohsin - three fours and a six in his death-overs spell - MI would have had far less than the 144/7 they mustered.

LSG: 52/1 (RR: 8.67, 4s/6s: 6/2)

Arshin Kulkarni became the second IPL opener to bag a golden duck on debut, trapped LBW by a Thushara outswinger. But LSG moved on quickly, thanks to a dual attack from Stoinis and Rahul who stitched a fifty partnership in just 28 deliveries. Stoinis made it a 15-run first over from Coetzee, smashing two boundaries, and Rahul laid into Thushara with 6, 4, 4 to end his PowerPlay stint on 1-24. Even Bumrah was welcomed back with a six by the Australian, setting a solid base for the chase for the hosts.

LSG: 64/3 (RR: 7.11, 4s/6s: 6/1)

MI fared better than LSG in the middle-overs phase but the hosts could afford the slow-down thanks to the cushion of that fifty partnership. Pandya bagged a first-ball duck but also struck on his second delivery of the game to have his counterpart skying a catch to deep midwicket, where Nabi took a stunner barely inches inside the ropes. MI only bowled four overs of spin in this phase and that was primarily because Stonis cut loose against Piyush Chawla and Nabi, taking them for a total of 29 runs in just 16 deliveries en route to a 39-ball half-century. Albeit, he also lost his wicket to the former Afghanistan captain just as the death overs approached.

LSG: 29/2 (RR 6.69, 4s:2)

In a matter of 10 balls, LSG had two fairly new batters in the middle with the ask of 30 in six overs on a pitch not conducive to stroke play from ball one as Nic Pooran learnt. The one-run 17th over from Bumrah put the batters under the pump and Ashton Turner was cleaned up by Coetzee looking for a big shot. Ayush Badoni released the pressure with a couple of boundary shots but Pandya sent him packing too in a see-sawing final phase. Luck favoured Pooran, who went for a slog only to find the inside edge just about evading the diving 'keeper to run into the fence for a timely boundary.

Brief scores

: Mumbai Indians 144/7 in 20 overs (Nehal Wadhera 46, Tim David 35*; Mohsin Khan 2-36) lost to Lucknow Super Giants 145/6 in 19.2 overs (Marcus Stoinis 62; Hardik Pandya 2-26) by 4 wickets

LSG will be headed east, taking on KKR at the iconic Eden Gardens on Sunday while MI will head back for their home game against the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit first, on Friday.