Pooran and Marsh hit quick fifties in the chase © IPL Lucknow Super Giants bounced back from a heartbreaking defeat on Monday night, to register their first win of IPL 2025 against Sunrisers Hyderabad with five wickets and 3.5 overs to spare. The Shardul Thakur-led bowling attack restricted the hosts to 190, with Thakur picking up a four-fer (4 for 34) before Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh blew the hosts out of the water. Where was the game won? There were regular wickets through SRH’s innings. Thakur picked up two quick wickets of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan after the hosts failed to get off to a flying start. The rest of the LSG bowlers consistently followed Thakur with tight lines and bowled under the bat as they broke through the host’s batting order. In contrast, LSG dealt majorly in boundaries through the Pooran-Marsh show, and the second-wicket 116-run stand in just over seven overs completely took the game away from Sunrisers. SUNRISERS HYDERABAD PowerPlay – A decent bounce-back after quick wickets fall Phase score – 62/2 [RR: 10.33, 4s/6s: 6/3] Having scored 286 in the last game, SRH were expected to continue from where they left off. But Thakur and Avesh Khan mixed up their lengths in their respective overs to keep the score down to 15 after two overs. Thakur then scalped Abhishek for the third time across seven T20s with a bouncer and followed it up by strangling centurion from the last game, Kishan, down the legside. He only missed his hattrick after Nitish Kumar Reddy dug out a yorker. Travis Head took on Avesh from the other end in an 18-run over as SRH began to wrestle back momentum. Head was given two lives in the sixth over after being dropped by Pooran and Ravi Bishnoi with a six over cover sandwiched in between. Middle overs – A finely balanced phase of wickets and runs Phase score – 81/3 [RR: 9.00, 4s/6s: 4/4] LSG continued to be sloppy in the field Head after the PowerPlay as overthrows allowed SRH to scamper for three before Head cut Digvesh Rathi to the fence. Prince Yadav began poorly, being clipped through fine-leg for four before rattling the stumps of the dangerous Head, bringing LSG back in the game. Yadav, who bowled four on the trot, landed the ball right under the bat and mixed it up with wide slower-ball yorkers. He even got Heinrich Klaasen run-out backing up too far after Reddy drilled one back to him. This was after Klaasen slog-swept Rathi for a maximum and followed it up with a stunning backfoot punch off Bishnoi to the boundary. Things got better for the tourists as Bishnoi bowled a 105kmph ball to have Reddy cleaned up but just when they tried to close out the 15th over Aniket Verma let loose. Having hit Bishnoi down the ground in the 13th over, Verma punished Bishnoi for bowling in the slot with two more sixes in a 15-run 15th over. Death overs – Sixes aplenty with wickets tumbling all around Phase score – 47/4 [RR: 9.4, 4s/6s: 0/5] Verma continued his onslaught with back-to-back sixes off Rathi, but the bowler had the last laugh as Verma holed out to long-off after a 13-ball 36. Abhinav Manohar fell cheaply off Thakur. SRH skipper Pat Cummins played a short yet effective cameo off three sixes in his four-ball stay at the middle. Thakur then picked up his fourth on the night, with the wicket of Mohammed Shami, as he ended with career-best figures of 4 for 34 as LSG successfully restricted Sunrisers below 200. LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS PowerPlay – Pooran, Marsh give SRH a taste of their own medicine Phase score – 77/1 [RR: 12.83, 4s/6s: 6/6] Abhishek began with a quiet three-run over, an anomaly in a gruesome PowerPlay for the hosts. Despite Shami sending Aiden Markram back for one, he followed it up with five-wides while, impact sub, Mitchell Marsh broke the shackles with a flick over mid-wicket to the fence. Pooran wasted no time to get going, with two sixes on the onside off Simarjeet Singh after Reddy misfielded one on the boundary ropes at the start of the over. He then gave a half-chance to the extra cover fielder in the next over but the power of the drive took the ball past the fielder and to the fence. Marsh, then picked the bones out of Shami with two sixes in an 18-run over. The move to turn back to Abhishek backfired for the hosts with Pooran, who has a great record against the left-arm spinner smashing two sixes as LSG brought up the 50 within five overs. Pooran ended the PowerPlay with two boundaries off Cummins as he raced to 44. Middle overs – Second-wicket stand leaves Lucknow on the brink of victory Phase score – 99/4 [RR: 11.00, 4s/6s: 10/4] The hosts brought in Adam Zampa as their impact sub but Pooran slog-swept him for six as the southpaw brought up his 50 off just 18 balls, the fastest so far in this year’s IPL. The Zampa over resulted in 19 runs for LSG as the tourists continued to blow the hosts away. Harshal Patel followed it up with a nine-ball 15-run over as the partnership went past the 100-run mark. The hosts finally saw the back of Pooran courtesy Cummins thudding a fuller delivery into his pads. Marsh brought up his second 50 on the bounce with consecutive boundaries off Cummins before he chipped one to long-on. Simarjeet was welcomed back to the attack with a six by Rishabh Pant while Ayush Badoni rounded the over with a four. But the latter fell to a stunning take by Harshal, who ran in from the mid-wicket boundary, in the next over as the hosts tried to fight back. The optimism around the ground increased when Harshal had Pant caught at third-man, but former SRH player Abdul Samad ended the 15th over with a four and a six leaving LSG requiring only 15 runs in the death overs. Death overs – LSG seal the win comfortably Phase score – 18/0 [RR: 15.45, 4s/6s: 2/1] Samad continued to power the ball as he latched into the off-colour Zampa, with a six and a four before David Miller finished proceedings. The South African played a lofted drive through covers for four as LSG won with 23 balls to spare. Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 190/9 in 20 overs (Travis Head 47, Aniket Verma 36; Shardul Thakur 4-34, Prince Yadav 1-29) lost to Lucknow Super Giants 193/5 in 16.1 overs (Nicholas Pooran 70, Mitchell Marsh 52; Pat Cummins 2-29, Harshal Patel 1-28) by 5 wickets. What next? Sunrisers will now travel to Vizag to face the Delhi Capitals in an afternoon clash on March 30 (Sunday) while the Lucknow Super Giants have a four-day break before playing their first home game against the Punjab Kings on April 1 (Tuesday).
