Pacer Akash Madhwal picked a sensational five-wicket haul (5/5) and helped Mumbai Indians thrash Lucknow Super Giants by 81 runs in the eliminator and move into Qualifier 2 of IPL 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, here on Wednesday.

Lucknow were 68/2 in eight overs at one point in their chase of 183. But from there, they fell in heaps to be all out for 101 in 16.3 overs, with Madhwal finishing with 5/5 in 3.1 overs, which is also the best-ever bowling figures in IPL playoffs history.

Mumbai were also aided by three hara-kiri run-outs from Lucknow’s batting to book their spot in Qualifier 2, where they will face defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday.

Chasing 183, Mumbai made the breakthrough in the second over as Madhwal had Prerak Mankad slicing to deep point. Two overs later, Mayers miscued pull to mid-on off Chris Jordan.

Mumbai could have got their third wicket had Nehal Wadhera not misjudged the catch of Marcus Stoinis while running in from deep cover in the fifth over. From there, Stoinis swung off Cameron Green for four, before pulling twice off Hrithik Shokeen for back-to-back boundaries through square leg and mid-wicket.

He followed it up with a straight six down the ground as 18 runs came off the last over of power-play. But he was losing support from the other end as Krunal holed out to long-on of Piyush Chawla in the ninth over.

Madhwal’s return in the tenth over truly broke the game open for Mumbai — Ayush Badoni’s off-stump was sent for a cartwheel ride, followed by Nicholas Pooran nicking behind to keeper to fall for a golden duck.

A collision with Deepak Hooda while taking the second run resulted in Stoinis being run-out in the 12th over, followed by Krishnappa Gowtham being run-out in the next over. Madhwal had Ravi Bishnoi caught at long-on, before another horrible mix-up resulted in Hooda being run-out.

In his final over, Madhwal completed his five-fer with a yorker hitting the base of Mohsin Khan’s off-stump to seal a dominating and emphatic win for Mumbai.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 182/8 in 20 overs (Cameron Green 41, Suryakumar Yadav 33; Naveen-ul-Haq 4/38, Yash Thakur 3/34) beat Lucknow Super Giants 101 all out in 16.3 overs (Marcus Stoinis 40; Akash Madhwal 5/5) by 81 runs

Press Release, Source: IANS