Lucknow Super Giants produced an all-round show against the struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad to hand their opponent a second consecutive defeat in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 tournament, in the contest played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai which they won by 12 runs.
The new IPL side Lucknow Super Giants were lifted by half-centuries from their captain KL Rahul and middle-order batsman Deepak Hooda, who added 87 runs for the fourth wicket after their team was reduced to 27/3 in the powerplay.
Rahul continued to make runs in the IPL 2022 tournament as he finished with a 50-ball 68, which included 6 fours and 1 six whereas Hooda showcased his talent once again, hitting 3 sixes and as many fours to finish at 51 from only 33 balls, while helping his side recover from a poor start.
Sunrisers Hyderabad were able to grab early honours in the contest played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the match No 12 of the 15th edition of IPL. Washington Sundar was spot-on in his first spell for the SRH side, trapping the dangerous Evin Lewis leg-before for 1 after he had got Quinton de Kock caught in the 30-yard circle for the score of 1.
Romario Shepherd struck in the fifth over of the innings to get rid of LSG batsman Manish Pandey, who was caught at mid-on for 11, with the Super Giants slipping to 27/3 inside 5 overs.
This was when Rahul and Hooda got together, started off cautiously but rebuilt the innings for the Lucknow Super Giants, who eventually finished at an impressive total of 169/7 in their 20 overs.
The LSG right-handed batsman Ayush Badoni continued to make the right statements as he finished with the third-highest score for his side, hitting 3 fours to make 19 from 12 balls toward the end of the innings.
For the Sunrisers Hyderabad side, their left-arm pacer T Natarajan, Sundar and Shepherd finished with 2 wickets each.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have been struggling on all fronts but they still managed to put on a strong fight, despite Avesh Khan producing a fine spell of 4-0-24-4, dismissing batsmen such as Abhishek Sharma (13), SRH captain Kane Williamson (16), Nicholas Pooran (34) and Abdul Samad (0).
Rahul Tripathi scored a crucial 44 for SRH from 30 balls with the help of 5 fours and 1 six whereas the Caribbean batsman Pooran made his presence felt with a 24-ball 34, which was studded with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
But despite all of their batsmen producing some runs, SRH were not able to record a win from a position of 27 runs needed from the last 17 balls and with 6 wickets intact. Apart from Avesh, LSG had other wicket-takers in Jason Holder (4-0-34-3) and Krunal Pandya (4-0-27-2).