SRH vs LSG: Prerak Mankad, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis star as LSG stay in the hunt for IPL 2023 playoffs

Lucknow Super Giants defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday to move into the top-four of the IPL 2023 points table and stay in contention for a place in the playoffs.

LSG had lost three of their last five matches but their batters were spectacular against SRH after a poor start to the chase.

Prerak Mankad (64 not out) who scored his maiden IPL half-century steered the chase, Marcus Stoinis smashed 40 off 25 balls and Nicholas Pooran remained unbeaten on 44 off just 13 balls.

Chasing 183, Lucknow Super Giants lost Kyle Mayers to Glenn Phillips thanks to a sensational catch from Aiden Markram. Mayers had started the season brilliantly for LSG but managed only 2 off 14 balls.

Quinton de Kock and Prerak Mankad added 42 runs for the second wicket off the next 5 overs before Mayank Markande who had given away 14 runs in his first over, made a crucial breakthrough for Sunrisers Hyderabad. de Kock was looking good for LSG but he top-edged an attempted reverse sweep to be caught by Abhishek Sharma at backward point.

Marcus Stoinis joined Prerak Mankad in the middle with LSG in desperate need of a powerful innings as the required rate shot up. LSG had scored only 30 for 1 off the Powerplay and by the halfway stage of their innings, they had managed to reach just 68 for 2 and needed to score at 11.50 runs-an-over to win.

Prerak Mankad hit his first six in the 14th over, right after the strategic timeout. It was a poor delivery from Markande and a well-set Mankad had no trouble hitting it over long-on. Later in the same over, hit another boundary to give the LSG chase some momentum.

In the next over off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mankad brought up his maiden IPL fifty before a six from Stoinis brought the equation down to 69 runs off the last 5 overs for the visitors.

Marcus Stoinis had started slowly but he was beginning to unleash some superb shots. He hit Abhishek Sharma for two sixes before hitting one straight to Abdul Samad at long-off. Nicholas Pooran walked in and hit the first three balls for sixes as Abhishek conceded 31 runs off the 16th over and LSG were now in sight of victory. Prerak Mankad continued to play an exceptional innings and hit T Natarajan for a six while an edge off the last ball of the 17th over fetched him four more runs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss, opted to bat and scored 182 for six off their 20 overs thanks to a 29-ball 47 from Heinrich Klaasen and a rapid unbeaten 37 from Abdul Samad. There were significant contributions from Anmolpreet Singh (36) and skipper Aiden Markram who scored 28.

It was an important game for SRH who only had 8 points from 10 matches before the game in Hyderabad but they carried plenty of confidence from their stunning run chase against Rajasthan Royals last Sunday. Glenn Phillips who had won the man-of-the-match award against the Royals thanks to his 7-ball 25, was dismissed for a golden ball duck against LSG on Saturday.

But SRH were still able to recover from some setbacks and post a strong total. Abhishek Sharma, Anmolpreet’s opening partner, was dismissed by Yudhvir Singh in the third over of the innings before Rahul Tripathi fell to Yash Thakur who finished with impressive figures of 1 for 28 off his four overs.

LSG captain Krunal Pandya was the star among the bowlers with 2 for 26 off his four overs. He dismissed Aiden Markram and the dangerous Glenn Phillips off consecutive balls to stop the Sunrisers from running away to a bigger score. It was a controlled bowling performance from the Lucknow captain; with Rajasthan Royals crushing Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians acing two superb run chases, LSG slipped to No.5 before the match against SRH on Saturday. Krunal led from the front and made some smart changes on the field to keep his side in the game.

Meanwhile, there was a brief stoppage in play when a section of the crowd seemed to upset the LSG dug-out following the third umpire’s decision to overrule a no-ball from Avesh Khan following a review by LSG. Chants of “Kohli, Kohli” were also heard from the stands. Heinrich Klaasen who was looking dangerous for SRH at that stage, lost his momentum and got out to Avesh Khan off the last ball of the over and the hosts could add only another 9 runs to their tally.