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.

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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.