In the last match of the season at their home venue, the Ekana Cricket Stadium, the Lucknow Super Giants came up with a five-run win over Mumbai Indians to move back to joint-second in the Indian Premier League table.
It was a hard-fought and well-earned win that came through the heroics of left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan in the last over of the match. The 24-year-old was brought into bowl with MI needing 11 off the last over, with the set Tim David and hard-hitting Cameron Green at the crease. Yet he conceded just five runs to help his side defend the 178-run total.
“I was only trying to do what I’ve been doing in practice. Just stick to my strengths. Krunal asked me what I’m going to ball, I said ‘bhaiya, jo main karta aa raha hoon,’ (Brother, I’ll do what I have been doing all this time),” he said after the match.
“I was just trying to keep myself calm, I wasn’t looking at the scoreboard. I knew I just have to ball six deliveries, I wasn’t looking if they need 10 runs, or six runs. I just knew I had to put six balls, and six good balls.
“The wicket was gripping a bit, so I thought I’ll ball slower balls. I did it twice it got hit, so I felt that the batters are waiting for it. Accordingly, I bowled a yorker, I keep trying to change it based on such things. It was reversing as well.”
The visitors had won the toss and opted to bowl. LSG got to 177 on the back of Marcus Stoinis’ unbeaten 89 off 47. In response, MI were off to a solid start with Ishan Kishan (59 off 39) and Rohit Sharma (37 off 25) putting up a 90-run partnership before the skipper was dismissed in the 10th over.
David though, continued the charge towards the end with a solid 32 off 19, with a boundary and three sixes, but Khan’s last over changed the momentum. And this form a bowler who had not played much cricket over the last year, as he recovered from a major surgery.
“I hope that no cricketer ever has to suffer from this. My artery was completely blocked, the nerves, everything was blocked,” Khan said in a post-match press conference.
“Before and after the surgery was a tough time, but the people around me kept supporting me. At one stage I had given up hopes of coming back to play because I couldn’t even raise my hand or straighten it.
“The doctors even said that, and it’s scary for me to recall this, if I had delayed it by a month they would have had to amputate my arm.”
LSG’s captain Krunal Pandya too was full of praise for the pacer.
“Mohsin is someone with a big heart. When you have a big heart in this sport, you go a long way. Really happy for him. He hasn’t played cricket for the last one year, he had to go through a very serious surgery, and then to come here and play the IPL in such a pressure situation, he has a big heart,” Pandya said in the post-match presentation.
Moments after winning the match for LSG, a near-breathless Khan too tried to explain his emotions. However, he also revealed an added motivation with which he had been playing on the night.
“My father too was in the hospital, he was in the ICU for the past 10 days (after suffering from a stroke) and got discharged yesterday. I was playing for him. He was probably watching the match today. He’ll be very happy,” he added.
After 13 games this season, LSG are level on 15 points with Chennai Super Kings, second behind only the Gujarat Titans on 18. They play their last match of the group stage at the Eden Gardens against the Kolkata Knight Riders on May 20.
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