Shami’s hostile spell & Pant’s composed knock help Lucknow down Sunrisers by five wickets

Mohammad Shami’s hostile spell at the start of the innings and Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten half-century helped Lucknow Super Giants score a five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday afternoon.

Hosts Sunrisers’ strength is their batting but on Sunday the batters put in a disappointing show for their fans. India discard Shami once again showed that there is enough firepower in his belly. The pacer broke the Sunrisers’ back with a double strike in his first two overs.

Shami had Abhishek Sharma (0) caught by M Siddharth off the sixth ball of the innings and then returned to have Travis Head (7) caught by Aiden Markram off the first ball of his second over. Shami finished with stupendous figures of 4-0-9-2.

Mohammad Shami finished with stupendous figures of 4-0-9-2 as he had Sunrisers on the ropes

The double strike was compounded by Prince Yadav, who bowled skipper Ishan Kishan (1) to reduce Sunrisers to 11 for three. Liam Livingstone and Heinrich Klaasen tried to steady the rocking boat, but Digvesh Singh got rid of Livingstone (14) to make it 26 for four.

Klaasen and Nitish rescue Sunrisers

With their backs to the wall, Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy salvaged something from the ruins. The duo matched stroke for stroke as they slowly extracted Sunrisers from the mess they were in.

They strung together a 116-run partnership for the fifth wicket off 63 balls. Nitish made a 33-ball 56 and Klaasen got 58 off 30 balls. But both of them fell in quick succession and Sunrisers were unable to take advantage of the final overs.

Klaasen fell for 62 off 41 balls with five fours and two sixes and Nitish’s 56 contained three fours and five sixes. Sunrisers could muster a below par 156 for nine in 20 overs.

SRH’s Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy strung together a 116-run partnership for the fifth wicket off 63 balls

“I’m happy. We lost our last game, winning this game was key to build momentum. If you want to play, it’s important to be in touch with the game. If you’re fit only, then can you work on your skills. That’s why I kept in touch with the game and played all the domestic games. Without skill or experience, nothing happens. But you have to adapt. I was here last year and used a lot of slower ones. Opponents use it a lot, I thought why not us too,” said Shami, who was named Player of the Match.

Lucknow begin the chase well

Lucknow began their chase in a steady manner with openers Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh (14) adding 37 for the first wicket before Marsh fell.

Markram was joined by skipper Pant, and the duo took the score to 77 with Markram doing the bulk of the scoring. Markram made 45 off 27 balls with six fours and two sixes before he fell to Shivang Kumar.

Pant does it for Lucknow

Thereafter, it was Pant all the way as he anchored the innings to perfection. Pant not only kept one end up but also did the bulk of the scoring to steer Lucknow to a five wicket win with a ball to spare.

Pant added 25 for the third wicket with Ayush Badoni (12), who replaced Shami as the Impact Player. The skipper then added 34 off 27 balls with Abdul Samad (16) and an unbeaten 21 off 13 balls with Mukul Choudhary (2 not out) for the sixth wicket.

A cool and composed Pant remained unbeaten on 68 off 50 balls with nine fours. Harsh Dubey took two for 18 for the hosts.

A cool and composed Rishabh Pant remained unbeaten on 68 off 50 balls with nine fours as Lucknow won by five wickets. Pics: BCCI

“It’s a big plus, staying till the end and finishing the game. With bowlers, you have to appreciate them because they set up games. Shami, Avesh, Rathi all contributed. Siddharth too. We feel there’s never a perfect match, have to be critical as a management, but appreciate the effort and focus on execution. What ends well is all well, for me personally, I know I’m preparing well. I want to let my bat do the talking. My colleagues and management see how hard I work, that’s what matters,” said Lucknow skipper Pant.

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“It was a good game, total not enough. Bowlers bowled to the plan, credit to the fielders too but one or two boundaries can take the match here and there. Losing four wickets early puts pressure on other batters, but credit to Klaasy and Nitish for taking us past 150. Rishabh played well when they were losing wickets. Defending that total was tough, taking it to the last over gives us positive notes. Harsh bowled exceptionally well, hope he’ll continue,” said Kishan.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 156 for nine in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 62, Nitish Kumar Reddy 56; Mohammad Shami 2/9, Prince Yadav 2/34, Avesh Khan 2/36) lost to Lucknow Super Giants 160 for five in 29.5 overs (Aiden Markram 45, Rishabh Pant 68 not out; Harsh Dubey 2/18).