Thursday 02 / May / 2024
Lucknow: Sunrisers Hyderabad brought in some of the most renowned players in the squad but neither their performance nor the result changed for them.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (121/8) lost to Lucknow Super Giants (127/5) by five wickets to register their second defeat of the season at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Friday. As SRH lost wickets at regular intervals it became evident after that they would not test Lucknow's batting with a low score.
"Not enough runs, tried to get to 150-160 but lost too many wickets and didn't get any momentum going. We realized it wasn't going to be a great wicket to bat in terms of history, but we were happy to fight. They bowled brilliantly according to the conditions. Good effort from our bowlers, we didn't give them enough runs to play with but they fought hard," SRH skipper Aiden Markram said after the match.
SRH could only manage to score 121/8 in 20 overs in the first innings.
Chasing a modest 122-run target Lucknow Super Giants got off to a quick start with skipper KL Rahul and Kyle Mayers capitalizing on every scoring opportunity coming their way.
Afghan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi brought Sunrisers back in the game dismissing Mayers for 13 from 14 balls as LSG lost their first wicket for 35.
In the next over Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Deepak Hooda caught and bowled for 7 as the hosts lost their second wicket for 45 in six overs.
Just when it seemed that Lucknow would comfortably chase down the target Umran Malik broke the 55-run partnership between the two dismissing Krunal Pandya for 34 from 23 balls.
With just 8 needed to win Adil Rashid gave a back-to-back blow to hosts Lucknow dismissing KL Rahul leg-before wicket for 35 and dismissing Romario Shepherd for a golden duck to leave them at 114/5.
It turned out to be too little too late for Sunrisers Hyderabad as Nicholas Pooran went on to hit the winning runs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad will face Punjab Kings on Sunday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. With the form Punjab currently are in, Sunrisers will find it hard to get past them for their first victory in the IPL 2023.
"Different conditions once again, the team has played there already. The Punjab Kings are flying high but Sunday is a chance to pinch them," Markram said.
