Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 19 (ANI): Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram’s blitzkrieg, along with Nicholas Pooran’s finishing touches, powered Lucknow Super Giants to 205/7 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Ekana Stadium on Monday in the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Marsh’s 65 and Markram’s 61 laid the foundation for LSG while Pooran dazzled with his quick-fire 45 to take the Super Giants to a challenging total.
After Hyderabad put Lucknow to bat, Marsh and Markram went all guns blazing with their swashbuckling display. Marsh drew the first blood and opened his account with a boundary on the first ball of the match by pulling off a flashy upper cut.
He topped it up with an 80m maximum off Sunrisers skipper Pat Cummins on the fourth ball of the opening over to mark the beginning of his relentless onslaught. Marsh hammered the ball over long-on off Harsh Dubey in the next over to clear his intentions early.
Markram joined the party in the third over by beautifully driving Cummins’ 144kph delivery to the fence. Markram got a lifeline after Ishan Kishan fluffed his chance to stump him. The South African batter punished the Sunrisers for the missed opportunity by ending the over with a four and a maximum to assert complete dominance in Lucknow’s home den.
The hard-hitting opening duo ensured Lucknow remained unscathed as they unleashed a barrage of boundaries to end the powerplay with 69/0. Marsh brought up his fifty after the powerplay, while Markram continued to ride high on his luck after Aniket Verma dropped the chance to have him caught on 38.
With a rollicking opening stand, Lucknow breezed past the 100-run mark in the 9th over as Hyderabad continued to fumble catching opportunities. Marsh gave away a thick outside edge. Kishan got a glove on it but failed to grasp the opportunity as the ball raced away for a four.
Marsh made Hyderabad perish by reeling off back-to-back fours. The towering Australian cushioned the ball back to him, Harshal Patel almost had the last laugh, but the third umpire concluded that the ball had touched the ground.
Harsh Dubey got his maiden IPL scalp and the much-needed breakthrough by luring Marsh (65) to slice it straight into the hands of Eshan Malinga. After the 115-run stand concluded, Lucknow skipper Rishabh Pant’s (7) scratchy run with the bat continued as he chipped it back to Malinga, who took a leap and grabbed it with his left hand.
Markram (61) celebrated his fifty, struck a maximum a couple of overs later, and then was cleaned up by a flawlessly executed yorker deprived of pace.
Nicholas Pooran flaunted his brute force and tormented Hyderabad bowlers at one end. In-form Ayush Badoni had a rare, dull outing and returned cheaply on 3(5). Pooran and Abdul Samad took the onus of ending the innings on a high by orchestrating a boundary fest in the final two overs.
Nitish Reddy was handed the responsibility of bowling the final over. Pooran invited him by smoking the ball into the stands for a towering maximum. But Pooran bit the bullet after Kishan had him run out on 45(26).
Shardul Thakur came in and cheekily found the gap to open his account with a four. However, his heroics are short-lived, as Nitish ruins his attempt to put Samad on strike by catching him short of the crease during the duo’s attempt to get a single.
With two deliveries left, Samad tried to shuffle across the crease but dragged the ball into the stumps. Akash Deep finished Lucknow’s innings in style by dispatching the ball into the stands to lift Lucknow past the daunting 200-run mark. (ANI)
