Lucknow out of play-offs race as Sunrisers Hyderabad secure six-wicket win
SRH were already out of the competition and LSG needed a win on Monday night to stay alive in the tournament
Lucknow: Abhishek Sharma smashed half a dozen sixes in his 20-ball 59 to ensure a convincing six-wicket win for Sunrisers Hyderabad and knock Lucknow Super Giants out of the IPL play-offs race here on Monday.
Mitchell Marsh (65 off 39) and Aiden Markram (61 off 38) struck high-quality fifties before Sunrisers Hyderabad stemmed the flow of runs to limit LSG to 205/7.
In the absence of his unwell opening partner Travis Head, Abhishek took the onus on himself to provide a perfect launch pad in the run chase before Heinrich Klaasen (47 off 28) and Kamindu Mendis (32 off 21) did the rest.
SRH were already out of the competition and LSG needed a win on Monday night to stay alive in the tournament. The loss marked an ordinary season for LSG and their new captain Rishabh Pant, who could not live up to his record 27 crore price tag.
Both LSG and SRH still have two more games to play this season.
The highlight of SRH’s run chase was Abhishek milking leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi for four consecutive sixes with three of them coming down the ground.
In the bowling department, the sole bright spot for LSG was leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi who has had a stellar debut season.
When Rathi had Abhishek caught in the deep in the 8th over, his trademark notebook celebration followed but seconds later the two competitors found themselves in a heated exchange that prompted quick intervention from the umpires.
Earlier, Marsh and Markram were simply sublime in the powerplay, taking LSG to 69 for no loss.
Marsh began with a crisp pull for a six off his Australian captain Pat Cummins while Markram targeted the straight boundary against debutant left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey in second over of the innings.
Dubey, a record wicket-taker in the latest Ranji Trophy season, was introduced rather early and the LSG openers made a conscious effort to target the rookie.
Marsh cleared his left leg to dispatch Dubey for a six over long-on in the second ball of his opening over before Markram collected his first maximum of the match with another straight off the left-arm spinner in his following over.
Markram was dropped in the ninth over, making life tougher for the visiting team. But SRH finally got the breakthrough in the 11th over when Dubey returned to have Marsh caught at short third man, giving the 22-year-old his maiden IPL wicket.
That brought Rishabh Pant (7 off 6) to the crease with the under-fire skipper deciding to come ahead of Nicholas Pooran at number three.
Pant, who has changed batting positions through the season with little success, once again struggled before offering a catch to pacer Eshan Malinga.
In overs 11-15, LSG could only managed 38 runs for the loss of two wickets, impacting their momentum adversely.
Pooran (45 off 26), who could not find the sixes with the ease he normally does, ensured his team crossed the 200-run mark.
Nitish Reddy, bowling for the first time this season, was given the 20th over in which he conceded 20 runs.
