On Wednesday, May 24, the Lucknow Super Giants collapsed completely in front of a furious Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2023 Eliminator. Krunal Pandya and company were bowled out for 101 runs while chasing 183 at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium.
During the early part of their innings, the Super Giants never looked settled, losing wickets at regular intervals. There was, however, a ray of optimism in the LSG dugout with Marcus Stoinis still at pitch.
In an unfortunate turn of events, Stoinis was runout in the 12th over, and LSG’s hopes suffered as a result.
Runouts are the most terrible type of dismissal in cricket since batsmen get out through no fault of their own. As has been witnessed on several instances in the past, runouts may have a significant influence on games.
Here are 3 instances in IPL playoffs where a runout proved to be quite expensive.
1) Nitish Rana, SRH vs KKR, IPL 2018
The Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a good start in their chase of the SunRisers Hyderabad’s 175-run target at Eden Gardens. Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn contributed 40 runs in 3.2 overs before the latter was removed.
Nitish Rana strolled in and seemed to be in the zone right away. He hit two sixes and a boundary for his 22 off only 16 deliveries.
Just as Lynn and Rana appeared to be bringing the team closer to the goal, an error in judgement provided SRH with a much needed breakthrough. Rana attempted the second run despite having slipped after finishing the first. He was caught short even after attempting a dive.
KKR lost momentum after the runout. They scored only 160 runs and lost the match by 14 runs.
2) Marcus Stoinis, LSG vs MI, IPL 2023
The Super Giants never really got going while chasing 183 against Mumbai on a difficult Chepauk surface. Rohit Sharma and company dominated the innings from the start and reduced LSG to 74/5 in 9.4 overs.
However, with Lucknow’s leading run-scorer Stoinis still in the middle, the Super Giants were not out of the contention. He appeared to have mastered the Chepauk pitch as well, striking five boundaries and a six in his 27-ball 40.
As Stoinis gained strength, a mix-up with Deepak Hooda brought an end to his time in the centre. Both hitters collided and Stoinis was forced to pay the high price.
LSG collapsed for 101 runs as a result of the runout, therefore ending their IPL 2023 season.
3) Suresh Raina, PBKS vs CSK, IPL 2014
The Punjab Kings (formerly known as Kings XI Punjab) scored a massive total of 226/6 on the board, owing to Virender Sehwag’s amazing century.
Suresh Raina matched Sehwag’s run chase skill to keep the Chennai Super Kings in contention. He hammered 12 boundaries and 6 sixes to score 87 off only 25 balls in the powerplay, scoring at a strike rate of 348.
When it appeared that the Super Kings would cruise through the chase, George Bailey delivered a brilliant throw from the covers to eliminate Raina. Bailey produced that bit of magic out of nowhere.
Chennai lost momentum when Raina was out, and in spite of MS Dhoni’s best efforts, they were unable to cross the finish line. CSK finally lost by 24 runs and were eliminated from the IPL 2014.