Mumbai Indians pacer Akash Madhwal rained fire on the Lucknow Super Giants as he finished with figures of 5/5 as MI eliminated LSG and made their way to Qualifier 2 to face the defending champions Gujarat Titans.

After the match, Madhwal was in a conversation with Suresh Raina who said, “Aapka action mujhe sher ki tarah lagta hai, jo shikar pe jata hao” (Your action looks like that of a tiger who is on the hunt).

The 29-year-old did hunt and on the fateful night of the IPL Eliminator, Prerak Mankad, Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi and Mohsin Khan were his prey as the LSG innings was wrapped up 16.3 overs for 101 runs.

Aptly judged the player of the match, Madhwal said that the wicket of Pooran was his favourite one. Fresh off his dismissal of Ayush Badoni, Madhwal dished a length ball that stayed in line after pitching and took a thick outside edge for Ishan Kishan to catch behind the wicket.

“The wicket of Nicholas Pooran was most pleasing for me. t was planned that when a left hander comes to bat, I’ll go round the wicket,” he said after 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,” he added.

How about that for an #Eliminator Performance! The Mumbai Indians put on an incredible bowling display 👏🏻👏🏻#TATAIPL | #LSGvMI pic.twitter.com/rQpCgcEjnU — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 24, 2023

On learning from other MI quicks, he said, “When I was with Jofra (Archer), both of us were not part of the team and was bowling yorkers with him in tandem. From Jason Behrendorff, I’m learning the knuckle ball. From (Chris) Jordan, I’m learning the ball that seams up after pitching.”

Earlier, opting to bat, MI posted 182 for 8 with Cameron Green top-scoring with a 23-ball 41 while Suryakumar Yadav made 33 off 20 balls.

For LSG, Naveen-ul-Haq was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets for 38 runs while Yash Thakur took three wickets.

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Chasing the target of 183, LSG were all out for 101 in 16.3 overs.

Marcus Stoinis was LSG’s highest scorer with 40 off 27 balls while none of his batting colleagues made any substantial contribution.

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