HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Skipper Rishabh Pant led a successful chase on Sunday in Indian Premier League cricket with 68 not out off 50 balls as Lucknow Super Giants beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets with one ball remaining for its first win this season.
Pant hit nine fours but no sixes in his first half-century of the season, and opener Aiden Markram scored a 27-ball 45 as Lucknow finished with 160-5 in 19.5 overs in reply to Hyderabad’s 156-9.
Hyderabad’s top order failed to get going again, and it was reduced to 26-4 before Heinrich Klaasen (62) and Nitish Reddy (56) revived the innings.
Pacer Mohammed Shami picked up 2-9 in four overs for Lucknow. Prince Yadav (2-34) and Avesh Khan (2-36) also contributed.
It was a second loss for Hyderabad in three games this season.
Put into bat, Hyderabad struggled against Shami’s pace. Abhishek Sharma was out for a two-ball duck, while opening partner Travis Head was caught for seven.
A major blow came when in-form Ishan Kishan was bowled for just one to leave Hyderabad at 11-3 in 3.3 overs. That became 26-4 when Liam Livingstone was caught behind for 14 off wrist spinner Digvesh Rathi (1-46).
The Klaasen-Reddy partnership resisted though, adding 116 off 63 balls for the fifth wicket. South African Klaasen scored a second consecutive half-century — off 33 balls – following up on his 52 against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Reddy hit 50 off 30 balls and their 100-stand came off only 56 balls.
Left-arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth got the breakthrough in the 18th over with Reddy caught at deep cover. Three balls later, Klaasen was caught behind in another serious blow to Hyderabad at the death.
The Sunrisers lost four wickets for only 12 runs off the last 12 balls to lose all momentum and finished with a sub-par score.
In reply, Lucknow lost Mitchell Marsh for 14 but Markram still got his team off to a swift start. He hit two sixes and six fours, adding 40 off 28 balls with Pant for the second wicket.
Markram was dismissed just prior to the halfway stage but Pant was still there. He reached 50 off 43 balls, anchoring the innings with a 20th half century in the IPL.
Ayush Badoni (12), Nicholas Pooran (1) and Abdul Samad (16) fell cheaply in the middle order but Pant finished the job for Lucknow.
Southern derby
In Sunday’s late game, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru faced Chennai Super Kings in the southern derby in Bengaluru.
Chennai won the toss and chose to bowl first.
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The Associated Press
