Wood, playing only his second IPL match and debut for the Lucknow franchise, stunned Delhi Capitals while chasing a target of 194 runs.
Wood’s three wickets in his first two overs completely rattled Delhi as they never recovered from there, finishing at 143 for 9 to lose the game by 50 runs.
Wood’s figures of 5 for 14 are now the best ever by a Lucknow bowler.
The Englishman’s five-wicket haul complemented the debut beautifully Kyle MeyersMagnificent 73, who only got a chance to show his exploits due to the absence of Quinton de Kock.
as it happened
The stylish left-hander hit seven sixes in his 38-ball innings which was largely responsible for a solid 193/6 in 20 overs.
Wood bowled back-to-back lethal in-cutters off 147 clicks, with Prithvi Shaw (12) and Mitchell Marsh (0) failing to bring their bats down before the ball hit Wood.
In the case of Sarfaraz Khan (4), his weakness against fast short-pitched pitches is well-documented and Wood hit his body which could have blown his head off and he tried a non-existent ramp shot and Entangled himself The easiest catches were taken at the fine leg boundary.
At 48 for 3 from 41 for no loss, it happened in the space of a few overs when Wood had eroded his confidence with raw pace, DC were not able to stage a comeback.
Captain Warner and Rilee Rossouw (30 off 20 balls) added 40 runs, but the dismissal of Ravi Bishnoi (2/31 in 4 overs) precipitated their downfall.
Bishnoi and ‘Impact Substitute’ Krishnappa Gautam (0/19 in 4 overs) bowled well in dewy conditions and the latter really showed his multi-skill ability by hitting a last ball six during LSG’s batting innings.
DC didn’t look the part on the day as the pace slipped out of their grasp at times. The 16 sixes given away by the DC bowlers were testimony to their inconsistency.
They enjoyed a fine bowling powerplay, with Mears announcing his grand entry on the IPL platform with a scintillating knock.
The left-handed batsman from Barbados, who was included in the absence of South African opener Quinton de Kock, made the Capitals pay a heavy price as he smashed a 28-ball half-century to drop them for 14 runs.
At the other end, Deepak Hooda (17, 18b) was a mere spectator to Mayer’s fury as he smashed 79 off 42 balls to accelerate the run-rate in the middle overs.
The pair were dismissed inside a ball, while Marcus Stoinis (12) was dismissed cheaply in the middle overs.
But LSG kept the momentum going with Nicholas Pooran (36; 21b) and Krunal Pandya (15 not out; 13b), Ayush Badoni’s mini-attack (18; 7b, 1×4, 2×6) and an ‘Impact Substitute’ last-ball six Krishnappa Gautam conceded 22 runs in the 20th over bowled by Chetan Sakaria (2/53) before being dismissed.
66 runs came off the last five overs, mainly due to Pooran and Badoni using the long handle to good effect.
LSG, playing their first home game since joining the IPL last year, were in a position to trouble the DC bowlers, who made full use of the difficult single wicket two-way after bowling.
It took 16 balls for LSG openers KL Rahul and Meyers to get going and hit their first boundaries.
They were reduced to 19/1 inside four overs when left-arm pacer Sakariya lengthened Rahul’s lean patch by dismissing the Indian opener with a slow delivery. Sakariya’s dismissal of Rahul was the third in four IPL match-ups.
But things soon tilted in favor of the home side when Khaleel Ahmed trapped Mears in the last over of the powerplay.
Mayer showed his anger against debutant Mukesh Kumar and hit him for two big sixes in the very next over.
There was no stopping Meyers as he continued his onslaught on his premier spinners Akshar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav with the help of seven sixes and two fours.
Patel, however, had the last laugh when he clean-bowled Meares with a near-square curve ball from an imaginary fifth stump line.
Thereafter, it was his West Indies teammate Nicholas Pooran who seized the momentum with his 21-ball 36 (2X4, 3X6) keeping the run flow going with Krunal Pandya.
(With inputs from PTI)