IPL 2023: Super Giants crush Sunrisers Hyderabad to stay in playoffs race
Mankad, Pooran shine with the batas Lucknow down Super Giants by seven wickets
Updated On - 13 May 2023, 10:03 PM
Hyderabad: Nicholas Pooran showed his power hitting with a 13-ball unbeaten 44 (3×4, 4×6) while Prerak Mankad anchored the chase with unbeaten 45-ball 64 as Lucknow Super Giants cruised to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Chasing Sunrisers’ 182/6 total, the visitors romped home with four balls remaining. While the win pushed Lucknow to fourth place with 13 points to stay in hunt, the playoffs hopes for the Sunrisers are all but over.
Super Giants needed 69 off last five overs but the left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma’s 16th over turned the tide in visitors’ favour as Marcus Stoinis (40 off 25) hit two sixes before his dismissal on the next ball while next batter Pooran smashed next three balls over the fence to make it a 31-run over.
Earlier, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Fazalhaq Farooqi bowling tight overs, Super Giants’ openers struggled to get going. Kyle Mayers, who took 11 balls to get off the mark, was the first to go when he tried to break the shackles only to be held at mid-off by Markram in the bowling of Glenn Phillips in the fourth over as LSG made 30/1 in the first six. Mayank Markande then removed Quinton de Kock in the ninth over as the visitors scored 68/2 in 10 overs.
Mankad and Stoinis kept them in the hunt all through. They scored 13 off Farooqi’s 13th over and another 14 in the next over off Markande. Stoinis then pulled Bhuvneshwar for a long-on six to bring down the equation to 69 off 30 balls. Though Stoinis was dismissed in the 16th, Pooran and Mankad ensured they reached home safely.
Earlier, electing to bat, Sunrisers lost in-form opener Abhishek Sharma (7) cheaply in the third over of the innings bowled by Yudhvir Singh. He was given out after a review which showed the ball kissing the gloves before landing in wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock’s hands.
Rahul Tripathi and Anmolpreet Singh hit two boundaries each in Avesh Khan’s over. However, Tripathi edged a bouncer off Yash Thakur to wicketkeeper after making a 13-ball 20 (4×4) as the hosts raced to 56/2 in powerplay.
Captain Markram and Anmolpreet kept the scoreboard ticking.
Markram hit the first six of the innings in the 9th over of Mishra but the veteran leg-spinner bounced back dismissing Anmolpreet (36 off 27; 7×4) as caught and bowled two balls later. In the company of Heinrich Klaasen, Markram led the hosts to 95/3 at the half-way stage.
Klaasen then lofted Bishnoi for a six and a four off successive deliveries in the 12th over. But the visiting captain Krunal struck two vital off successive deliveries. He first accounted for his counterpart Markram (28 off 20) who was stumped after missing the line. Last-match hero Glenn Phillips was cleaned up the very next ball for a duck as the hosts were reduced to 117/5 at the end of 13 overs.
But Klaasen and Samad took on bowlers. Samad lofted Yash for a six while Klaasen cut lose in the 16th over of Mishra pulling the bowler for consecutive sixes. After hitting a four, Klaasen tried to go for a maximum but was held at long-on for a 29-ball 47-run knock. He added 58 runs for the sixth wicket with Samad. Samad managed nine runs of the final over as the hosts scored 52/1 in the final five overs to finish with a decent total.
Unruly crowd halts the game
The crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket stadium halted the game for six minutes with their unruly behaviour during the first innings of the match.
The crowd reportedly threw nuts and bolts, removed from the chairs, during the 19th over that forced the officials to halt the game. The over, bowled by Avesh Khan was incident marred with a full toss, which was visibly over the waist height, was given a fair delivery by the third umpire.
A ball later, the miffed crowd from the stands behind the dugout, threw the foreign objects that hit Prarak Mankad who was fielding at the long-on.
The crowd also shouted Virat Kohli’s name whenever they got the sight of Gautam Gambhir.