As it happened: Lucknow Super Giants vs Mumbai Indians, IPL 2022, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Chameera bowled a superb 19th over with wide yorkers to concede just five runs and there was going to be only one winner once it came down to 39 required off six balls. Mumbai slump to their eighth straight loss and Rohit tries to make sense of it.

Rohit Sharma: I thought we bowled pretty okay. It was a good pitch to bat on but we didn't bat well enough. We should have chased that down. When you have a target like that, you need those partnership, which we couldn't do. Some irresponsible shots including mine. They bowled well in the middle. We haven't batted well in the tournament. You have to ensure one of the batter bats long but we have failed to do that in this tournament. Some of the opposition players have done that and that has hurt us. [On if Tim David's name was discussed] Looking at how the tournament has gone everyone has come into the discussion. We want to make sure whoever gets a chance, they get a run in the XI. So we try not to make too many changes. Whoever plays should get enough opportunities, that's how I look at it.

KL Rahul has bowled out Mohsin and Holder and he hasn't gone back to any of his spinners. With two overs to go, and one left for Chameera, it means Rahul will probably go to Stoinis for the last over? Tilak Varma also departs after being the lone bright star in the innings for 38 off 27 and all hopes rest on Pollard now.

He's on a run-a-ball 17, has struck only one six, and looks like he is waiting to go big only in the last two overs. Daniel Sams joins him and Chameera starts the 19th over. Can Pollard do it?

Remember how Dhoni came out and played out Bumrah patiently the other day only to go all guns blazing against Unadkat? Pollard may have to do something similar today although MI need a stiff 71 off 30 balls, which someone like Pollard can achieve. Mohsin Khan and Chameera have one each left and Holder has two, although he may not bowl both his remaining overs. Pollard will hope Holder bowls both because it's unlikely he will go after Bishnoi, whom Tilak is more likely to target.

Krunal Pandya has left one too. Holder comes on for the 16th over, let's see how this goes.

Ayush Badoni has never bowled in T20s before. He hasn't made his first-class or 50-over debut yet so nobody has an idea what he bowls, and how, and possibly why. But KL Rahul knows something we and Mumbai Indians don't, and with a side replete with allrounders he hands the ball for the 12th over to Badoni.

Badoni goes around the wicket and after conceding a single to Tilak Varma, he gets the big wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai's best batter this season, and the batter MI were pinning their hopes on after Rohit fell. The asking rate is over 12 now, Pollard joins Tilak.

Mumbai Indians are crumbling again. For nearly 10 overs it looked like the Mumbai Indians was a carbon copy of the LSG innings. One opener fell early, their was a scratchy innings early on, the captain was going strong at the other end and keeping the team steady even though the run rate wasn't great. The big difference comes just before the halfway mark. After Kishan gets out in an unusual fashion by edging to slip off the keeper's foot and Brevis finds third man, Rohit goes for a massive slog sweep against Krunal Pandya from around the wicket, and manages only a leading edge to short third man.

The Wankhede has gone quiet. The camera pans to the stand where the MI players' wives are seated and they are shocked because the set batter is gone. SKY and Tilak come together now as MI need 110 off 60.

Both wickets that Kieron Pollard picked today were off cutters or slower ones and Gaurav Sundararaman points out to me that's how most of their attack bowled, especially Unadkat. MI bowled as many as 26 slower balls today - the most this season in an innings - and got as many as five wickets off them. Only KKR picked more wickets (six off 19 slower balls) yesterday, especially when Andre Russell kept digging them short and slow in the last over of Gujarat Titans' innings and got four wickets in six balls.

The LSG bowlers may want to take a cue from that and rely on slower ones as well, especially with the short boundaries on this ground - 58metres on one side and 72m on the other. Chameera bowls pretty quick so Holder and Stoinis are their options for this job.

And on cue, Holder does it to nearly pick a wicket. In the last over of the powerplay, he cowls a back-of-length offcutter that splits Rohit into half and he's nearly caught behind. Next, he bowls a regulation quick ball with the seam up and he's smoked for six! Kishan is struggling but MI steady on 43 for 0 after the powerplay.

Here's what to keep an eye on in MI's chase of 169:

Chameera vs Rohit in T20s: 33 off 32, six dismissals, SR 103.12.
Bishnoi vs Pollard in T20s: 12 off 15, 0 dismissals, SR 80.
Bishnoi vs SKY in IPL: 18 off 17, three dismissals, SR 106.

This man is in some form. Wickets have been falling, pressure has been rising, the bowlers aren't bowling that bad, but Rahul has been punishing them consistently. He has only struggled a little against the length balls, but as soon as it's pitched short, he pulls it for four or six. If it's full, he drives it in the covers or in the V down the ground for a boundary. He's not just scoring, he's finding the gaps with apparent and enviable ease. He has been in control for 85% of his innings at the time of his century, and cruises to his second ton of the season, both against MI, off 61 balls to take LSG to a competitive 168. Check out his stellar record against Mumbai Indians here in Ask Cricinfo.

Other batters with two or more centuries in an IPL season: Kohli (four) in 2016, Buttler (three) in 2022, Gayle (two) in 2011, Amla (two) in 2017, Watson (two) in 2018, Dhawan (two) in 2020.

"Super Giants have plenty of all-round options, but Krunal Pandya is a sixth bowler who's done a fifth bowler's job this season - admirably, so far - and Marcus Stoinis and Deepak Hooda are sixth bowlers who may not necessarily make up for a frontline option having a bad day. And as much as flexibility is a good thing, there could be such a thing as too much flexibility - the temptation to mix things up and promote your No. 8 to No. 3 could potentially lead to a lack of role clarity."

Read more from Karthik Krishnaswamy and Gaurav Sundararaman in our mid-season review for each team here.

LSG had a few batters padded up for two down and sending Stoinis at No. 4 seemed like the right move, as they were moving along only at seven an over. Rahul has been collecting boundaries regularly, but Stoinis fell as soon as he tried for one. On his third ball he goes after a short ball from Sams and found deep midwicket. One can question the shot selection on the second last ball of an over which had already leaked 17 runs, with as many as five wides and two sixes in the over already.

And hello! 102 for 3 quickly becomes 103 for 4 as Krunal Pandya lasts just two balls, also finding deep midwicket off a Pollard cutter. A lot rests on Rahul now. Deepak Hooda joins his captain; Ayush Badoni and Jason Holder to follow. LSG 108 for 4 after 14.

Manish Pandey was trying to hit out after the powerplay, one can't blame him for that, and he even connected a six off Meredith's pace over long-on but that's the only boundary he could fetch in his 22-ball stay. Rahul, meanwhile, pulled handsomely against Meredith and Bumrah for fours for his third 50-plus score this IPL, off 37 balls.

Rohit made another interesting bowling change and brought on Kieron Pollard for only the third time this season. And he struck straightaway as well, having a heaving Pandey caught at short fine leg.

Could this wicket actually help LSG? Because Marcus Stoinis has walked out now and their run rate does need a lift from 7.08 after 12 overs.

A six from Pandey and two fours from Rahul, off Meredith. LSG are 71 for 1 at the halfway mark.

Since de Kock hit Bumrah for a six - because of a fielding lapse - in the fourth over, Rohit has been smartly changing his bowlers, not giving anyone two overs in a row. Meredith's pace, Unadkat's back-of-length balls and slower ones, and Shokeen's flat offbreaks are barely giving an scoring opportunities to Rahul and Pandey. Only in the ninth over does Rahul open up for a slower delivery from Unadkat and heave a six over deep midwicket to finally take LSG's run rate over six an over. Stoinis is among a few batters padded up in the dugout.

Manish Pandey hasn't had great scores this IPL - 6, 38, 11, 5 and 6 - with a SR of well under 110. Would you want such a batter walking out for you at No. 3? He may have a good record against Bumrah (66 off 34, 0 dismissals, SR 194) but Rohit took Bumrah off immediately after his one over in the powerplay, which ended with a score of an underwhelming 32 for 1. Pandey was on 3 off 8 at that point; he didn't look that comfortable against Riley Meredith's pace, and then played out three dots in a row off Unadkat before finally taking a single while trying to hit out.

Who are their other options for No. 3? Marcus Stoinis is the obvious choice, who bats at that position for Australia and did so for Delhi Capitals as well earlier.

After Shokeen conceded just four in the second over, Rohit brought on Bumrah for the fourth and he got the ball to talk, by jagging it in to trouble Rahul, who earlier crunched back-to-back boundaries against Sams. What hurt more is how Tilak Varma let the ball through his hands at the deep backward square leg boundary to give de Kock a life and leak a six. But once de Kock got a low full toss the very next ball, and he handed a catch straight to Rohit at cover. What a strange game this is.

The question is: will Rohit give Bumrah another in the powerplay or save his three for the middle and death overs? MI's bowling rests on him a lot this season.

Hrithik Shokeen, MI's offspin-bowling allrounder, started the second over to KL Rahul with four dot balls and he then changed his angle for some reason, going around the wicket, and got hit for a boundary immediately. It's a really good over, nevertheless, as he bowled flat, without any room, and not full at all on this ground with short boundaries. Just four from his over and MI have kept Rahul and de Kock quiet so far.

Despite his recent century against MI and his fabulous record against them, one thing KL Rahul wouldn't want to hear is his form at the Wankhede this year: two golden ducks, against Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans. Rahul also has an impressive record vs Bumrah, of 124 off 99, two dismissals and a SR of 125. Way more impressive than that is the record against Bumrah of an LSG batter who hasn't had a great IPL so far and has made many question his position at No. 3 for them: Manish Pandey. Look at his numbers vs Bumrah in the IPL: 66 off 34, 0 dismissals, a SR of 194. Somehow, he fares much poorer against Unadkat: 35 off 40, four dismissals, SR 88. Let's see how Mumbai use those two bowlers against Pandey today.

Rohit Sharma is not going to go with the trend of teams batting first winning the last three games on this ground, and he has opted to bowl, like it's been happening all tournament, except in the day game yesterday. He looks happy to be back at Wankhede, where there's a lot of crowd support for him and his team. Mumbai are unchanged but LSG make one: Avesh Khan has a niggle, KL Rahul says, and they bring in Mohsin Khan, the 23-year-old left-arm quick from Uttar Pradesh.

MI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Dewald Brevis, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Hrithik Shokeen, 8 Daniel Sams, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Riley Meredith, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

LSG: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 KL Rahul(capt), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Krunal Pandya, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Ayush Badoni, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Jason Holder, 9 Mohsin Khan, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Ravi Bishnoi