Mohammad Shami’s brilliant opening performance sets the stage for Lucknow Supergiants’ thrilling five-match win in their tournament intense pulsed light Rishabh Pant sealed the final with a clinical finish on Sunday.Sunrisers Hyderabad endured a nightmare start after being batted away, falling to 35/4 in the first 10 overs. Mohammed Shami was the team’s main destroyer, suffocating the scoring with impressive figures of 4-0-9-2, including 18 penalties. The veteran pacer removed the dangerous opening partnership of Abhishek Sharma (0) and Travis Head (7) with smart changes, while Prince Yadav cleaned up Ishan Kishan (1) with a sharp inswinger. Liam Livingstone’s struggles at the crease only exacerbated SRH’s woes as they slipped to 26/4 early on.
Stunning Restoration of Klaasen, Reddy Scripts
Heinrich Klassen and Nitish Kumar Reddy pulled off a stunning comeback amid a chaotic innings. The duo put together a crucial 116-run partnership for the fifth wicket that changed the momentum dramatically. After a cautious period, the pair switched gears and launched a counterattack, with SRH plundering 79 runs between the 11th and 15th overs. Klassen (62 off 41) and Reddy (56 off 33) hit 7 sixes and 8 fours off the boundary rope to lift SRH into contention. At one stage it looked like the total might be over 180.LSG saves the day in deathHowever, Lucknow Supergiants came back strongly in the death overs. Manimaran Siddharth dismissed Reddy to break the dangerous stand, while Avesh Khan dismissed Klaasen and Harsh Dubey with two consecutive knocks. Prince Yadav then played a close game in the final, conceding just 10 runs while SRH were restricted to 156/9, a total that seemed slightly below par considering their surge in the middle innings.
Pants anchor chase in finals thriller
In reply, Lucknow Supergiants got off to a positive start with Aiden Markram leading the charge. The South African looked smooth in the powerplay and played a series of crisp knocks as he reached 45 before being dismissed by young spinner Shivang Kumar.Rishabh Pant then took charge of the chase, stabilizing the innings with some smart batting rotation and composure. Even though the skipper wasn’t the most fluent, he made sure the scoreboard kept moving and the innings stayed together. Hyderabad found a way back into the match and were eliminated sharply when Shivang removed Markram Nicholas Pullan further tilting the momentum in their favour. A stern Dube fired Ayush Badoni and tightened his grip on Lucknow, further heightening the pressure.Just when the chase begins to falter, Abdul Samad makes a timely cameo that breaks a few key boundaries and eases the tension. However, SRH continued to fight and Dubey struck again in the 18th over, knocking out Samad. Harshal Patel performed well in the penultimate over, conceding just four runs, leaving Lucknow needing nine runs in the final over.Then Pant stood up despite the pressure. Two boundaries off the first two deliveries changed the situation dramatically before the captain calmly ended the match with another four runs to remain unbeaten with a tough half-century to lead Lucknow to a thrilling victory.See also: RCB vs CSK live score
