Sunrisers Hyderabad ruined Lucknow Super Giants' playoff aspirations with a six-wicket triumph, courtesy of a scorching knock by Abhishek Sharma and a solidity from Heinrich Klaasen, in an Indian Premier League 2025 encounter on Monday.
With the game against them in a must-win mode, Lucknow managed to put up a challenging 205/7, with explosive half-centuries from Mitchell Marsh (65) and Aiden Markram (61). But with their failure to carry the momentum to the death overs, they collapsed in the last six balls, missing out on a likely match-winning 220+ total.
SRH, undeterred by the target, mounted a record chase at the Ekana Stadium, the first team ever to successfully overhaul a 200-plus total at the venue in the history of IPL. At the forefront, Abhishek Sharma smashed a whirlwind 59 from a mere 20 balls, his fifty coming in just 18 balls. The chase was completed in 18.2 overs as SRH totaled 206/4.
LSG's loss saw them drop to seventh place on the points table with 10 points from 12 matches, in effect ending their playoff hopes. SRH meanwhile picked up their fourth victory, taking their score to 9 points.
Hyderabad's innings started with fireworks as Abhishek Sharma took the attack to the bowlers from the very beginning. Bating with the Impact Player Atharva Taide, who replaced the missing Travis Head, Sharma was aggressive even as his partner fell early.
Taide started confidently with a boundary off Akash Deep and then added two fours off debutant Will O'Rourke. However, the New Zealand left-armer fought back to send Taide back for 13, getting him to edge thickly behind that was well taken by Digvesh Rathi at deep third, getting Taide to be O'Rourke's first IPL scalp.
While Taide left early, Abhishek kept going. He thundered Akash Deep for a four and six in the third over, did the same off O'Rourke in the following over, and then took on Avesh Khan with back-to-back boundaries in the sixth. His highlight came in the seventh over when he thrashed Ravi Bishnoi for four consecutive sixes on his way to his quick fifty.
His fireworks ended when he tried to loft Rathi’s googly outside off and holed out to Shardul Thakur at long-off. His 20-ball 59 included four fours and six towering sixes.
Ishan Kishan continued the momentum, hitting creative strokes such as a lap shot for four off Rathi and a slog-sweep for six off Markram. Though he got out for 35 off 28 deliveries while trying to reverse-sweep off Rathi, SRH reached 140/3.
Kishan and Abhishek put on an 82-run second-wicket partnership at a quick rate. Kishan then got 41 with Klaasen, who kept one end anchored in poise, scoring 47 off 28 balls. Kamindu Mendis played a useful cameo in retiring hurt, getting some suspense with 19 runs remaining in the last three overs to be scored.
Klaasen relaxed the tension by punching consecutive boundaries off Shardul Thakur, but a DRS review saw him being sent back after edging one behind. When Mendis was off, the pressure intensified. But Aniket Verma and Nitish Reddy rose to the occasion—Verma punched in a deciding four and Reddy blasted another and pocketed a single, winning the chase in style.
Earlier in the night, LSG began their blazing start after being sent to bat. The opening duo of Marsh and Markram utilized a tame pitch and some SRH's sloppy fielding to full effect, storming to 69/0 in the Powerplay.
The pair complemented each other stroke for stroke, each scoring fifties in 28 balls and adding 115 runs as the first wicket. Debutant spinner Harsh Dubey was almost rewarded with a wicket on his first ball when Marsh edged one, but wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan missed the challenging chance. Markram also had a let-off early in his innings when Kishan also missed a stumping chance.
Marsh exploited and breached Cummins for boundaries, then a four off Dubey and towering sixes off Harshal Patel and Malinga. Finally, Dubey got his man when Marsh cut a spinning ball straight to short third, with 65 off 39 balls containing six fours and four sixes.
Markram took out his fifth fifty of the season and played powerful sixes over the sight-screen with aggression. He was dropped by Aniket Verma off Zeeshan Ansari but kept on playing his shots.
But the momentum ceased after their dismissals. Ayush Badoni (3) and Rishabh Pant (7) couldn't make any impression, and LSG managed just 50 runs in the following six overs from a solid 118/1 in 11 overs.
Nicholas Pooran provided a late spark, hitting 45 off 26 deliveries with six boundaries and one six. A run-out in the last over, when Kishan hit a direct throw, ended his innings prematurely. LSG was able to reach 200 but lost important wickets in the last over, namely Pooran and two others, which fell short for them.
In spite of a strong bowling performance by Digvesh Rathi, who took 2/37, LSG were unable to defend the target.
Match Summary:
Lucknow Super Giants – 205/7 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 65, Aiden Markram 61, Nicholas Pooran 45; Eshan Malinga 2-28, Harsh Dubey 1-44)
Sunrisers Hyderabad – 206/4 in 18.2 overs (Abhishek Sharma 59, Ishan Kishan 35, Heinrich Klaasen 47, Kamindu Mendis 32; Digvesh Rathi 2-37)
Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad won by six wickets
