Rishabh Pant guides LSG to win over Sunrisers Hyderabad

Rishabh Pant scored an unbeaten 68 to guide Lucknow Super Giants to a five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad. Earlier, Klaasen and Nitish starred with the bat, but LSG chased down the target comfortably in the IPL match

Hyderabad: By his own standards, Rishabh Pant was certainly not at his best.

But, the Lucknow Super Giants captain stayed out there till the end to play what turned out to be a match-winning knock (68 n.o., 50b, 9×4) as his team scored a five-wicket win against former champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL league match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday.

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Chasing 157, LSG was off to a decent start, scoring 37 in 4.4 overs before Mitchell Marsh (14) pulled pacer Malinga straight to a fielder in the deep. But, his partner Aiden Markram was in his elements, striking well (45, 27b, 6×4, 2×6). His six off left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat over mid-on was a treat to watch before spinner Shivang Kumar got the better of him.

But, Pant battled on at one end. He picked two fours in one over, one over covers and a pull to the mid-wicket fence off left-arm spinner Shivang Kumar.

It was not as if LSG was racing away to a comfortable win as the spin duo of Harsh Dubey (4-0-18-2) and Shivang Kumar (4-0-30-1) was equal to the task.

Nicholas Pooran (1) was run out thanks to a smart effort by wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. Abdul Samad (16, 12b, 2×4) looked good but did not stay till the end.

With nine needed in the last over off Unadkat, Pant hit three fours to give the finishing touch with one ball to spare and five wickets in hand, to the delight of his teammates and the management.

Klaasen, Nitish shine

Earlier, a superb fifth-wicket partnership of 116 off 63 balls between Heinrich Klaasen (62, 41b, 5×4, 2×6) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (56, 33b, 3×4, 5×6) pulled Sunrisers Hyderabad, put in to bat, out of trouble and helped the team set a challenging target of 157.

The tried and trusted pacer Mohammed Shami rocked the opposition with a superb opening spell of 3-0-7-2, sending back the dangerous openers, first Abhishek Sharma and then Travis Head, both deceived by the splendid change of pace on off-stump.

Then, the other pacer Prince Yadav cleaned up Sunrisers captain Ishan Kishan with one that swung back sharply from the off-stump to stun the near-capacity crowd (11/3 in 3.3 overs).

Leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi saw Liam Livingstone caught behind by captain Rishabh Pant when the batter failed to connect the scoop properly in the eighth over (26/4). The home team scored its lowest-ever score in the powerplay (22/3).

But thereafter, it was the Nitish and Klaasen show, with the former being the first to break the shackles with some lusty blows, including a six over long-off off Prince.

No doubt, Klaasen was lucky on 19 to see deep mid-wicket fielder Mukul Chouhary fail to latch on to a difficult running catch to his right near the boundary off left-arm spinner M Siddharth in the 13th over. But, he showed his class soon, pulling nonchalantly Prince Yadav into the stands and then hitting four fours off pacer Avesh Khan in the 14th over.

Then, Nitish, who batted brilliantly, delighted the crowd with three huge sixes in one over off Digvesh.

Sadly, Sunrisers could score only 42 in the last five overs.