IPL: Travis Head, Aniket help Sunrisers Hyderabad set 191-run target for Lucknow Super Giants
Lucknow Super Giants bowlers put in a much-disciplined effort to restrict the home team in the league match at Uppal stadium
Hyderabad: The fireworks from the big guns never really came off, except Travis Head at the top and Aniket Verma down the order as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) set a target of 191 for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL League match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.
By all means, it was a much-disciplined bowling effort by Lucknow than many would have expected.
Sunrisers, put into bat, was rocked in the third over by pacer Shardul Thakur, who induced southpaw Abhishek Sharma (6, 6b, 1×4) pull one straight to the fielder at deep square-leg and of the next ball had centurion in the previous match, Ishan Kishan, snicking one on leg-stump to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for a first-ball duck to make it 15 for two.
But, Travis Head was batting in another zone, coming up with some incredible strokes. The two huge sixes in the fourth over – one over mid-wicket and the other over covers – off pacer Avesh Khan were a combination of his range, timing, and brute power.
Head, on 35, was lucky to see Nicholas Pooran drop a sitter at long-on when the batter miscued, trying to clear the boundary of the first ball from leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi in the sixth over.
By its standards, it was a modest power-play for the home team, scoring 62 for two in six overs. Lucknow was lucky that fielding lapse didn’t prove costly as pacer Prince Yadav cleaned up Head (47, 28b, 5×4, 3×6) with his third ball in the eight over when the batter went for a big heave only to miss the line completely.
Prince was impressive with his clever change of pace and widish length. And, his brilliant reflex action in his follow-through saw the ball deflect his hands in an attempted catch of a hard-hit drive from Nitish Kumar Reddy deflect onto the stumps with Heinrich Klaasen (26, 17b, 2×4, 1×6) stranded at the non-striker’s end in the 12th over.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi then struck the big blow when Nitish Kumar Reddy (32, 28b, 2×4) was bowled going for a wild heave in an attempt to push the run-rate in the 15th over.
To the delight of Sunrisers, Aniket Verma was in a six-hitting mood – scoring five sixes in his cameo (35, 13b, 5×6) before pulling one from the other leggie Digvesh Rathi straight to deep mid-wicket. Captain Pat Cummins’ late assault (18, 4b, 3×6) helped prop the Sunrisers total at the end.
