IPL 2023 | Twitter reacts as LSG give playoff hopes major boost with 7-wicket win over SRH

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Sunrisers Hyderabad virtually endured elimination from play-off contention as they succumbed to their seventh loss of the season. Lucknow Super Giants, meanwhile, inched closer to securing a top-four finish with their sixth win of the campaign, the side surging to fourth with two games to go.

After opting to bat first. Sunrisers Hyderabad ensured they kept the scoreboard moving throughout the innings despite wickets falling at regular intervals. Abhishek Sharma was the first to hole out for a score of 7 before Rahul Tripathi’s explosive cameo of 20 was brought to an end with two balls to go in the powerplay, with the scoreboard reading 56/2. Anmolpreet Singh was the next to take on the role of aggressor for the team, tallying 36 runs in 27 balls before succumbing to Amit Mishra in the ninth over. Nevertheless, skipper Aiden Markram anchored along with a steady 28 but catastrophe awaited the Protean as both him and Glenn Phillips were returned to the pavilion on successive deliveries by Krunal Pandya in the 13th over. Heinrich Klassen and Abdul Samad helped save the sinking ship and provided a strong finish to Hyderabad with a 58-run partnership, the former high scoring with 47 at a strike rate of 160-plus.

In response, the LSG batters simply failed to get the ball away on the sticky Hyderabad track as even the power-hitting Caribbean opener Kyle Mayers managed just two runs in an astounding 14 deliveries. Quinton de Kock and Prerak Mankad, realizing the challenge at hand, moved the innings along steadily, unfettered by the team just managing 30 runs in the powerplay. When the former eventually fell for 29 off 19, Mankad kept motoring along after being joined by Marcus Stoinis. The duo put up a mammoth 73-run partnership in the 43 deliveries they shared the crease, carefully dismantling the opposition bowling attack at every opportunity they got. The over that Stoinis lost his wicket, incidentally, changed the entire complexion of the game. He struck out to Abhishek Sharma after smashing two sixes, only for the incoming Nicholas Pooran to add three more in a 31-run over. Suddenly, the equation went down to 38 from the last four overs and with Mankad accelerating at the right time as well, the game was all but over for SRH. LSG eventually got across the line with 4 balls to spare, with Mankad ending unbeaten on 64 while Pooran stole the show by striking 44 runs in just 13 deliveries.

All his fifty!

Back to back

Superman

Fying fish

What was that?

Insane

That scenario

Pooran days!

True bond

Verdict!

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