Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) shirked a win from Sunrisers Hyderabad's hands, beating them by 12 runs in the 12th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.
While Hyderabad seemed to be cruising in the run-chase, Lucknow pulled back the game dramatically in their corner in the final stages of the match.
En route to a target of 170 runs, Hyderabad threw it away as their captain Kane Williamson and Abhishek Sharma failed to keep on going after a good start. Rahul Tripathi came at number three and majestically found gaps to get the scoreboard moving. Tripathi, along with Pooran, had almost seen SRH through, but the former's wicket tilted the game a bit.
However, Pooran continued to play his shots. The West Indian looked in fine touch but lost his wicket at the wrong time, courtesy of Avesh Khan's magic. Avesh dismissed the dangerous Abdul Samad in the very next delivery as SRH pressed on their mandatory panic button.
Pooran and Samad's dismissal brought a major twist in the tale as the Sunrisers choked in the final overs, and Lucknow did a jailbreak to steal a 12-run victory.
Earlier, Lucknow Super Giants had a nervy start while batting as Washington Sundar stood tall with the ball in the powerplay and gained early breakthroughs in the form of Quinton de Kock and Evin Lewis. Sundar brought his old touch back and revived his knack for bowling tight spells in the initial overs.
At first, Skipper KL Rahul and explosive Deepak Hooda steadied the innings, but the latter went bonkers after getting his eye in. Unfortunately for Umran Malik, he came in Hooda's radar as the Haryana-born smashed the fiery pacer all over the park.
While Rahul played the second-fiddle to Hooda, he also upped the ante in the end part of his 68-run knock. Ayush Badoni, who so far has been top-notch, fared well even today and played a useful 12-ball innings, scoring 19 runs. Jason Holder came up with a handy performance and smashed a six off the final over to help Lucknow post a total of 169 runs.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants - 169/7
KL Rahul 68 (50) Deepak Hooda 51 (33)
T Natarajan 26/2
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 157/9
Rahul Tripathi 44 (30) Nicholas Pooran 34 (24)
Avesh Khan 24/4
Lucknow Super Giants won by 12 runs