KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) registered their second win of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) failed to put up a fight at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on April 7. The spin trio’s terrific spells followed by a clinical run chase helped LSG win the encounter by five wickets with 24 balls to spare. The win helped LSG move to the third spot on the points table.
In the run chase of 122, Rahul and Kyle Mayers found boundaries easily. Impact player Fazalhaq Farooqi got the breakthrough with the wicket of in-form Mayers in the fifth over. He went for a pull shot but got caught at deep square leg. The Caribbean batter scored 13 runs from 14 balls. Walking out to bat at no.3, Deepak Hooda hit a six but got caught and bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. After powerplay overs, LSG had 45/2 on the board. Rahul anchored the run chase and Pandya joined him in the middle. Pandya took the attacking route more often and succeeded.
In the 13th over, Umran Malik got the breakthrough. Pandya played away from his body and edged it to the wicketkeeper. The all-rounder scored 34 runs from 23 balls including four fours and one six. Marcus Stoinis got off the mark with a boundary. In the 15th over, Rahul tried to play reverse sweep against Adil Rashid but got out lbw. The opener scored 35 runs from 31 balls including four fours. The English leggie then got rid of Romario Shephered for a golden duck as the latter failed to pick the googly. Nicholas Pooran then hit a boundary off the hat-trick ball. In the next over, Pooran finished the run chase in style with a six.
Earlier, Aiden Markram on IPL captaincy debut broke the trend and opted to bat first after winning the toss. Replacing Abhishek Sharma at the top, Anmolpreet Singh looked solid. In the third over, Rahul introduced Pandya. The left-arm spinner got opener Mayank Agarwal's wicket. He lured him into a drive and Stoinis was stationed right where the ball went. Anmolpreet hit a few boundaries during fielding restrictions. SRH were 43/1 after powerplay overs.
As Rahul Tripathi struggled to score, Pandya capitalised and dismissed Anmolpreet and Markram off consecutive deliveries. Anmolpreet got out leg before wicket whereas Markram missed the line and the ball crashed into the off stump. Anmolpreet scored 31 runs from 26 balls whereas Markram registered his T20 career's first golden duck.
In the next over, SRH's most expensive pick Harry Brook could not pick Ravi Bishnoi's leg-break delivery and got stumped out. Washington Sundar joined Tripathi in the middle. No boundaries were scored in 29 deliveries as SRH's scoring rate went down. Tripathi managed a boundary off Amit Mishra but barely had support from Sundar. After spinners kept a lid on boundaries, Yash Thakur took advantage and got Tripathi's wicket in the 18th over as Mishra took an outstanding catch at short third man. He scored 35 runs from 41 balls including four fours.
In the penultimate over, Mishra got the wicket of Sundar who scored just 16 runs from 28 balls. In the same over, he dismissed Adil Rashid as well. In the final over, Umran Malik got run out for a diamond duck. Abdul Samad got the score past 120 with two sixes off Jaydev Unadkat. SRH managed to post a below par score of 121/8.
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