LSG vs SRH: Lucknow Super Giants defeats Sunrisers Hyderabad in a last-over thriller

Rahul-Deepak 50s help post a respectable total

Sunrisers Hyderabad opted to chase on winning the toss. KL Rahul opened the innings with Quinton de Kock. Washington Sundar and Romario Shepherd got an early breakthrough for their team as they successfully dismissed Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis, and Manish Pandey within powerplay for 1, 1, and 11 runs, respectively. Skipper KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda stitched a much-needed partnership to pull a respectable score for the team. They together made 87 off 62, during which Deepak Hooda scored 51 from 33 balls. Skipper then got another short partnership with Ayush Badoni until the former got dismissed in an LBW by T Natarajan. The players somehow managed to put a total of 169 as the target for the opposition for a loss of 7-wickets.

Avesh Khan's trailblazing balls

Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a better start than Lucknow Super Giants as their openers were able to build a 21-ball partnership. But Avesh Khan had other plans and took crucial wickets of skipper Kane Williamson and Abhishek Sharma within powerplay. Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram kept the scoreboard ticking as the former kept finding boundaries at regular intervals. And just then, Krunal Pandya got the breakthrough and removed both of them to bring his team back into action. SRH still had a game in their control as Nicholas Pooran and Washington Sundar were still present in the middle. However, KL Rahul proved his captaincy skills by bringing Avesh Khan for the 18th over in which he struck Nicholas Pooran and Abdul Samad in two successive balls. The game-changing overlooked like 6 0 W W 0 Wd 0. Experience overseas bowler Jason Holder did his bit in the final over to help the team register a 12-run win.

Kane Williamson, the losing captain: "If you look at the performance, was certainly much improved from our first outing. The start with the ball was outstanding. We were in a strong position. If we could just break that next partnership. Credit to Hooda and Rahul. I suppose with the bat there were glimpses. It was close but not close enough. It looked like a good surface. 170 on any day is a challenge...have to play well. But at the same time, we knew if we could build partnerships, and get off to a reasonable start, we would have enough firepower. Didn't quite work today. The guys with the roles they have with the ball were outstanding. It's small margins. A few ones and a few twos and the chase take quite a different shape. The game is a game of small margins but we don't want to get too far ahead and try to look back on those good bits."

The last three overs were impeccable from the experienced Lucknow Super Giants bowlers. Avesh got the two wickets at the point when Sunrisers were ahead in the contest. Andrew Tye then conceded only ten runs, and with 16 needed off the last over, Jason Holder kept finding the yorker when it mattered the most. Sunrisers needed 33 in 18 balls but managed only 20. Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, improved from the previous game but still lacks somewhere in the batting order and will look to work on it. Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad have their next match against Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings, on 7th and 9th April respectively.