Lucknow Super Giants notched a crucial win to get into top 4, after two defeats and a no result, to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in 58th match of TATA IPL 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Prerak Mankad made his mark with a crucial knock 64* off 45 of as impactful breezy knocks from Marcus Stoinis (40 off 25) and Nicholas Pooran (44* off13) sparked a brilliant comeback to achieve LSG a seven-wicket win after attacking cameos from Heinrich Klassen (47 off 29), Abdul Samad (37 off 25), Anmolpreet Singh (36 off 27) had propelled the home side to a competitive 182/6.
Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bat. They named Vivrant Sharma, Sanvir Singh, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Reddy and Marco Jansen as their substitutes while LSG named Swapnil Singh, Daniel Sams, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda and Arput Guleria as their substitutes.
Chasing 183, Lucknow Super Giants were dented early as they lost Kyle Mayers in the fourth over with just 12 on the board. Mayers struggled to get going with 2 from 13 balls and then mistimed one to mid off where captain Markram pulled off a brilliant diving catch.
The SRH bowlers kept a tight leash on the scoring. Prerak Mankad then provided some relief with two consecutive fours off Fazalhaq Farooqi as LSG reached 30/1 at the end of the powerplay. Quinton de Kock too looked to up the ante with a four and a six off Mayank Markande but the wily spinner bounced back to send back the South African batter in his next over as he top-edged his reverse sweep to backward point on 29(19).
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Things slowed down again as LSG reached 68/2 at the halfway mark.
With 108 needed off 48 and required rate climbing above 13, Mankad and Stoinis stepped up a gear as they took 14 off Farooqi over and then Mankad smacked a six and a four off Markande to make it 28 off two overs.
Stoinis continued to deal in sixes as he smacked three more including two off Abhishek Sharma but the SRH all-rounder bounced back to have him caught at long off for 40(25). Pooran arrived and took off with three sixes in a row to finish a roller-coaster over as they accumulated 31 off the over to bring the equation down to 38 off 24.
T Natarajan started the 17th over well giving away just four off the first four balls but Mankad finished off the over with a six and a four to bring the equation down to 24 off 18. LSG again finished another over well as Pooran cracked a back to back fours off Bhuvneshwar Kumar who had conceded just two runs off the first four balls. With 14 needed off 12, Natarajan again started off well giving away just three singles off the first four balls but then Pooran thumped a muscular pull over deep mid-wicket for a six to make it a 10-run over.
With four needed off the final over, Pooran heaved the first ball to deep mid-wicket off Farooqi where Phillips put in a brilliant dive to save two runs. But with two needed off the last ball, Pooran flicked the next one wide of short fine leg for a four to win it for LSG.
Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a brisk start but lost Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi inside the Powerplay. Anmolpreet Singh hit a couple of beautiful drives, through covers and straight down the ground, for fours and Abhishek Sharma lifted one over covers off Mayers for the third four off the innings. Yudhvir Singh then bowled a fiery over to start off as he had Abhishek Sharma caught behind off a sharp, fast and short delivery via a successful review and then pinged Rahul Tripathi’s helmet with a fast bouncer. Tripathi then got going with a couple of fours off Krunal Pandya. Tripathi and Anmolpreet then put on an exhibition in placement as they hit four well-timed and well-placed fours through the off side to make it 18 off the over.
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However, against the run of play, SRH lost Tripathi (20 off 13) as Yash Thakur bounced him out with Quinton de Kock pulling off a fine one-handed leaping catch. SRH reached 56/2 at the end of the Powerplay. Anmolpreet Singh and Aiden Markram got together and kept the scoreboard ticking adding 26 off 19 balls. Markram cracked a six straight down the ground off Mishra but the wily experienced campaigner bounced back to dismiss Anmolpreet Singh (36 off 27) caught and bowled with a lovely flighted delivery as SRH reached 95/3 at the halfway mark.
Klaasen then attacked Ravi Bishnoi, smacking a four and a six but Krunal came back to produce two moments of magic as he had Markram stumped and then cleaned up Glenn Phillips next ball with two absolutely rippers that spun away viciously.
Klaasen continued his aggressive approach as he clobbered two consecutive sixes off Mishra and Abdul Samad too hit two sixes, one off Yash Thakur and one off Krunal. The duo added runs before Klaasen departed for an aggressive 47(29). Samad (37* off 25) hit another six in the last over from Yash Thakur to finish off well as SRH posted 182/6.
