Lucknow Super Giants bags crucial win, defeats Sunrisers Hyderabad by 7 wickets
Hyderabad (Telangana), May 13: Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday bagged a crucial victory by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
After two losses and no results, they came back with a win. Prerak Mankad made his impact with a key unbeaten knock of 64(45)*, which contributed to LSG's triumph and helped the team preserve fourth place in the IPL table.
In addition, important performances by Marcus Stoinis (40 off 25) and Nicholas Pooran (44* off 13) fueled LSG's amazing comeback to win by seven wickets.
Lucknow Super Giants were chasing 183 when they lost Kyle Mayers in the fourth over with only 12 on the board.
Mayers failed to get going with 2(13), then mistimed one to mid-off, where skipper Markram made a spectacular diving catch.
The SRH bowlers kept the scoring rate under control. With two consecutive fours off Fazalhaq Farooqi, Prerak Mankad brought some respite in the LSG dugout as LSG reached 30/1 at the end of the powerplay.
Quinton de Kock seemed in fine form, hitting four and six off Mayank Markande, but the wily spinner bounced back to dismiss the South African batter in his next over when he top-edged his reverse sweep. He returned to the pavilion with a score of 29(19).
LSG reached 68/2 at the midway point, slowing off again.
With 108 needed off 48 balls and the required run rate approaching 13, Mankad and Stoinis stepped up their scoring, taking 14 off Farooqi's over and then Mankad slammed a six and a four off Markande to make it 28 in two overs.
Stoinis proceeded to hit sixes, including two off Abhishek Sharma, but the SRH all-rounder responded by catching him at long off for 40(25).
Pooran arrived and finished a roller-coaster over with three sixes in succession as LSG accumulated 31 of the over to reduce the equation to 38 of 24 balls.
T Natarajan began the 17th over well, conceding only four of the first four balls, but Mankad closed the over with a six and a four, reducing the equation to 24 of 18 balls.
LSG concluded another over brilliantly as Pooran hit back-to-back fours off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had only given up two runs in the first four balls. Natarajan began out well again, giving up only three singles in the opening four balls with 14 needed out of 12.
Pooran, on the other hand, blasted a strong pull over deep mid-wicket for a six to make it a 10-run victory.
With four runs needed off the last over, Pooran heaved the opening ball from Farooqi to deep mid-wicket, where Phillips made a wonderful diving catch to save two runs. But, with two balls remaining, Pooran flicked the following one outside of short fine leg for a four, giving him another last-over finish in the tournament.
- ANI
