The Lucknow Super Giants bounced back from their opening day loss with a 21 run win over Punjab Kings.
Playing in their first home game of the season, the Lucknow side delivered with both bat and ball, while taking a couple of stunners to seal their fielding.
Though there may have been a few misses, with fielding coach Jonty Rhodes in the LSG dugout, there's little room for error.
The best catches in the Lucknow Super Giants vs Punjab Kings IPL match:
Jitesh Sharma
Quinton de Kock stroked his way to a half-century before he was deceived by a slower bouncer from Arshdeep Singh.
The LSG left-hander top edged the short ball as wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma running all the way to square leg picked up the catch to give Punjab Kings an important breakthrough in the 14th over.
Jonny Bairstow
Ayush Badoni struggled before Sam Curran ended his short stay at the crease.
Badoni scored 8 from 10 balls before he holed Curran's ball out to Bairstow at long-on in the 19th over.
Shikhar Dhawan
Devdutt Padikkal looked in ominous touch as he played a couple of beautiful shots for boundaries.
But the left-hander failed to get enough elevation to a Sam Curran ball as he attempted a straight lofted shot and ended up hitting it to Shikhar Dhawan at mid-off.
Marcus Stoinis
Bairstow and Dhawan had put Punjab Kings in the driver's seat as they put on 102 runs for the opening wicket from 70 balls.
The pair threatened to race away with the chase before LSG debutant Mayank Yadav came to the hosts' rescue.
Consistently bowling at a searing pace, the right-arm pacer immediately caused a lot of problems for the Punjab batters.
He even clocked 155 kmph -- the fastest delivery in IPL 2024 -- before he made the breakthrough with Bairstow's wicket.
Bairstow was clearly beaten for pace as Mayank bowled a cracking 143 kph bouncer.
He ended up miscuing the pull shot towards deep midwicket as Stoinis ran in from the boundary and completed a superb sliding catch.
Naveen-ul-Haq
Naveen took two stellar catches, first to remove Impact Player Prabhsimran Singh and then that of Jitesh. Both catches off Mayank's bowling.
Naveen went for runs with the ball, but was very reliable on the field.
Prabhsimran smashed 19 from seven balls before he was hurried into the pull shot by a searing bouncer from Mayank and was caught at mid-on by Naveen.
In the pacer's next over, Jitesh top edged attempting the pull shot and again Naveen held onto the catch safely at midwicket.
LSG Vs PBKS: Who Took The Best Catch?
