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SunRisers Hyderabad, who won the toss and opted to bat, managed just 121 for 8 in 20 overs as Krunal Pandya ran through their top-order on a sluggish black-soil pitch.
The left-arm spinner was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers for Lucknow, constantly attacking the stumps to pick a tidy 3-18 in his four overs.
Lucknow drew first blood in the third over as Mayank Agarwal went for an uppish drive against Krunal, was undone by the flight and ended up giving a tame chip to cover.
In the 8th over, Anmolpreet Singh (31, 26b, 3x4, 1x6) -- who survived a leg before appeal in the final over of the Powerplay -- was trapped by Krunal with a flatter and quicker delivery that went past the bat to hit the back pad.
On the very next ball, a quicker delivery kept low and skidded past Aiden Markram's bat to rattle his off-stump, sending the SRH skipper back for a golden duck. Krunal picked up his third wicket to leave SRH tottering at 50/3.
'This year I'm in a good headspace,' Krunal said after the game. 'Once you have clarity up there, things fall in place. I'm very process-driven and don't think about results.'
'I took a break from cricket for a few months because I was just playing the white-ball formats,' Krunal added, 'so wanted some time off to work on my bowling.'