In an IPL match played here on Thursday, the Lucknow Super Giants defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets thanks to a four-wicket haul from Shardul Thakur and an incredible exhibition of power hitting by Nicholas Pooran. With statistics of 4/34, Shardul maintained his incredible comeback, assisting LSG in holding a powerful SRH to 190 for nine before Pooran (70 off 26; 6x4s, 6x6s) showed off his 360-degree hitting prowess. Pooran shared a quick-fire match-winning 116 runs for the second wicket with Marsh (52 off 31) to enable LSG chase down the goal in 16.1 overs.
Pooran on winning the Orange Cap
Due to the early loss of Aiden Markram, LSG's pursuit did not get off to the best start. However, LSG's subsequent surge was aided by Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran's smooth hitting. During his knock, Pooran, in particular, was at his most effective as an attacker, clobbering Simarjeet and Abhishek Sharma for massive sixes, mostly in the direction of the square boundary.
"(on the Orange cap) It's a bit big but it feels good. I don't plan to hit sixes, try my best to get into good positions and try to time the ball. When the matchup is there, you try to execute your skills. The wicket was beautiful. Looking at the games before, every time you come to Hyderabad, it's big scores here. Was a good toss to win, if you don't lose wickets in the powerplay, you can go hard. I have never worked on my bat-speed, just blessed with incredible talent. It's a really long tournament and nice to see Marshy, showed his class. The left-right combination is important, knock it around and continue to build a partnership and take our matchup down," said Nicholas Pooran in the post-match presentation
LSG captain Rishabh Pant (15 off 15) could do little to stop Pooran, who hit Cummins for two fours in his first over to reach 77 for 1 in the powerplay. Pooran reached his fastest fifty of the season in just 18 balls with another huge six over square leg of Adam Zampa, but Cummins cut short his magnificent knock in the ninth over, trapping him in front of the wickets. SRH simply could not stop Pooran, who hit Cummins for two fours in his first over and reached 77 for 1 in the powerplay.
Earlier, Travis Head top-scored with a 28-ball 47 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. However,l Shardul Thakur's four-wicket haul helped Lucknow Super Giants hold Sunrisers Hyderabad to 190/9 in their IPL match here on Thursday. Apart from Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy (32), Heinrich Klaasen (26), and Aniket Verma (36) made crucial contributions after SRH were invited to bat by LSG