Lucknow Super Giants clinch commanding victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2025

Nicholas Pooran (70 off 26) and Mitchell Marsh (50 off 29) dovetailed brilliantly, ensuring LSG dominated the chase after a strong start.

Earlier, Shardul Thakur’s 4 for 34 had helped restrict SRH to 190 for 9, a total that looked below par considering their recent high-scoring performances at this venue.

Shardul Thakur made an early impact, striking twice in two balls in the third over. Abhishek Sharma (6 off 6) holed out to long-on, and Ishan Kishan departed for a golden duck after edging behind.

Despite the early blows, Travis Head kept SRH’s intent intact, taking on Avesh Khan with two sixes and a four in the same over. He survived a major reprieve when Pooran dropped a sitter at long-on off Ravi Bishnoi, and in the same over, Bishnoi couldn’t hold onto a sharp return chance off his own bowling.

Head continued his aggression but was eventually cleaned up by Prince Yadav for 47 off 28. SRH reached 96 for 3 at the halfway stage, with Nitish Kumar Reddy (32 off 28) and Heinrich Klaasen (26 off 17) attempting to stabilize the innings.

Klaasen, though, fell in bizarre fashion, after the ball ricocheted off Prince Yadav’s hands and crashed into the stumps at the non-striker’s end, catching Klaasen short of his crease and SRH found themselves struggling at 156 for 7 in 16.2 overs.

However, Aniket Verma injected some late momentum with a blistering 36 off 13 balls, smashing five sixes. Pat Cummins chipped in with an 18 off 4 cameo, clearing the ropes three times, but LSG’s bowlers kept things in check giving away just 10 runs off the last two overs as Shardul Thakur wrapped up the innings with figures of 4 for 34.

At the chase, LSG got off to a watchful start before Nicholas Pooran took control launching two sixes and a four off Simarjeet Singh in the third over, before continuing the assault against Shami. Marsh too joined in hammering Shami for two straight sixes propelling LSG to 49 for 1 after four overs.

By the end of the powerplay, LSG had surged to 77 for 1, their second-highest in IPL history. The onslaught continued as Pooran raced to the fastest fifty of the season while Lucknow reached 96 for 1 in just seven overs.

Cummins broke through at a crucial moment, trapping Pooran lbw with a full delivery for 70 off just 26 balls.

With Pant new to the crease, Marsh took over the scoring responsibilities, bringing up his second consecutive fifty off 29 balls with back-to-back fours off Cummins. However, two balls later, Cummins had him holing out to long-on.

Harshal Patel then provided the moment of the match with a stunning catch at deep midwicket to dismiss Badoni, surely the best of the tournament so far.

He followed it up with a crucial strike, drawing an outside edge from Rishab Pant, which was well taken by Shami at short third. Despite the late stutter, LSG comfortably completed the chase with Abdul Samad finishing with (22* off 8).

(With inputs from iplt20.com)