Riding on fine individual performances by the trio of Nicholas Pooran, Prerak Mankad and Krunal Pandya, Lucknow Super Giants got the better of Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to boost their play-off hopes in Hyderabad on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
Desperately needing a point after a winless run of three matches (including a washout), Krunal inspired LSG's superb comeback with the ball.
He broke the back of Sunrisers' batting with two outstanding deliveries to castle SRH's batting mainstays Aiden Markram and Glenn Phillips off successive deliveries in the 13th over.
Krunal, who usually looks to fire the ball into the right-handers, gave it a bit of air as Markram coming down the track was done in the flight and the sharp turn with wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock effecting an easy stumping.
The next ball would rank as a dream delivery for any left-arm spinner. The LSG captain got the ball to drift into right-hander Phillips before it turned away quite a bit after pitching to beat Phillips all ends up and crash into the stumps.
The left-arm spinner finished with splendid figures of 2/24 in four overs, outshining the two leg-spinners -- Amit Mishra and Ravi Bishnoi -- who combined conceded 63 runs in six overs.
SRH, who were comfortably placed on 115/3 in 12 overs, lost all the momentum after the double strike.
Heinrich Klaasen (47 from 29 balls) and Abdul Samad (37 from 25 balls) stitched together a 58 run stand to steer SRH to 182/6, but they clearly finished 20 runs as they looked set for a 200-plus total at one stage.
With the bat, LSG stuttered at the start mainly due to Kyle Mayers' struggling knock of 2 from 14 balls. De Kock also didn't last long as he perished for 29 from 19 balls.
Prerak Mankad, batting at No 3, took his time to get going as did Marcus Stoinis as SRH's bowlers kept things in check with the asking rate constantly shooting up.
Stoinis, who started off with a four off the first ball he faced, managed just 17 from the next 19 balls faced to further pile pressure on his team.
Saurashtra batter Mankad showed great composure under pressure as he hit leg-spinner Mayank Markande for a six and a four to race to his fifty from 35 balls.
Mankad, 28, was playing just his second match of the season and overall his third IPL match, having featured in just one game last season.
He also came under attack from the spectators when he was fielding on the boundary, after being hit by a metal object thrown from the stands at the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium in Hyderbad, forcing the game to be halted for a few minutes following a controversial review for a no-ball which went in LSG's favour.
Big-hitting Stoinis made up for his slow start as he hit three sixes in the space of four deliveries including two off part-time spinner Abhishek Sharma before he perished after scoring 40 from 25 balls in the 16th over.
That set the stage for Nicholas Pooran's final assault, who also feasted on Abhishek's loopy left-arm spin bowling.
The left-hander from Trinidad slammed the first three balls he faced from Abhishek for sixes to turn the game on its head.
The 31 runs Abhishek conceded gave LSG much needed momentum and Mankad joined the party with a six and a four off Thangarasu Natarajan in the following over.
There was no stopping Pooran who kept finding the boundaries regularly before he steered LSG to victory with four balls to spare.
Pooran finished unbeaten with a whirlwind 44 from 13 balls while Mankad made 64 from 45 balls as the duo put on a match-winning stand of 58 runs from 23 balls.
Though Mankad walked away with the man of the match award, there was no denying that Pandya and Pooran's roles were decisive in the final outcome.
