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Put into bat, Meares (54 off 24) and Stoinis (72 off 40) powered Lucknow Super Giants to 257 for 5 against Punjab Kings. This was the second highest total in IPL history. RCB set the record for the highest IPL score by scoring 263/5 in 20 overs against Pune Warriors India in 2013.
Apart from being the second highest total in IPL history, it was also the highest score of the season.
Requiring around 13 runs per over to chase down an impossible target, Punjab fell behind in the game despite scoring at a decent rate to end with 201 in 19.5 overs.
Athrao Taide batted well with a 36-ball 66, his maiden half-century in the IPL, but the likes of Liam Livingstone (36 off 22 balls) and Sikandar Raza (23 off 14 balls) did enough to put pressure on the opposition. Couldn’t last long. Captain Shikhar Dhawan survived only two balls on his return. Young fast bowler Yash Thakur was the most successful bowler with figures of 4/37 in 4 overs.
At 152 for four in 15 overs, Punjab were striking at a rate of more than 10 runs per over but the task of scoring 106 runs in the last 30 balls was beyond the reach of Livingstone and Sam Curran (21 off 11). .
Meares went rampage in the Powerplay before Stoinis (40) effortlessly collected boundaries to help his team set a massive target. Other important contributions came from Ayush Badoni (43 off 24 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (45 off 19 balls).
After three matches to lead Punjab, Dhawan opted to field but his bowlers were all over the belt of a track.
Barring Rahul Chahar, all the other six bowlers conceded more than 10 runs per over. The usually frugal Arshdeep Singh conceded 54 runs in four overs and Kagiso Rabada conceded 52 runs in four overs, although he had two wickets to show for his efforts.
The total was the season’s highest and was six runs shy of 263, the highest ever total in IPL history achieved by RCB in 2013 when Chris Gayle hit his brilliant 175.
LSG skipper KL Rahul (12 off 9) was the only batsman who could not make use of the ideal batting conditions. He was dropped on the very first ball of the match by debutant Gurnoor Brar, but could not make it count.
Mayer looked aggressive from the start as he hit Arshdeep for four fours in his opening over. He began with a grand drive through point, hitting a total of seven fours and four sixes, before using his long levers to target the long on and deep mid-wicket region.
Such was his confidence and he took a few steps forward to send Rabada straight over his head.
After Mayer fell inside the powerplay, Stoinis and Badoni shared an 89-run partnership off just 47 balls to keep the momentum built by Mayer.
Stoinis played some breathtaking strokes in his combative innings which included five sixes and half a dozen fours.
Stoinis could have been dismissed in the 13th over but Liam Livingstone touched the boundary while trying to take a regulation catch at long on.
Pooran started his innings with three back to back off drives off Livingstone. LSG scored 73 runs in the last 30 balls.
(With inputs from PTI)