Lucknow: Mitchell Marsh (65) and Aiden Markram (61) blasted identical 28-ball half-centuries and Nicholas Pooran hammered a 26-ball 45 as Lucknow Super Giants posted 205/7 in 20 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 61 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Ekana Stadium here on Monday.
With this being a must-win match for the home side, as they try to ace a three-team race for the final playoff spot, LSG got off to a blazing start but lost the momentum a bit and finished with only the second 200-plus total at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Asked to bat first, Lucknow Super Giants made a superb start in this must-win match as they stormed to 69 for no loss in the Power-play as the M&M (Marsh and Markram) Show continued to make merry.
Openers Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram put on another superb show at the top of the order as both reached their half-century in 28 balls. They raised 115 runs for the opening wicket, feasting on the bowling, on a pitch that did not offer much, and were also helped by some sloppy work by SRH in the field.
Both Marsh and Markram were lucky as they survived a chance early in their innings against debutant left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey, who showed nerves of steel despite being asked to bowl in the Power-play in his first match.
The 22-year-old Dubey nearly struck off his first delivery in IPL as Marsh bottom-edged behind a tossed-up delivery outside off, but Ishan Kishan failed to get down in time and the ball went through his legs. It was difficult, but a chance nevertheless.
Markram would have been out on the first ball of the fourth over, when he lost his footing attempting to flick a fullish delivery down the leg-side. Kishan was the culprit again as he failed to collect the ball cleanly for stumping.
Marsh capitalised on that and stormed to his half-century, hitting Pat Cummins for a four and six in the first over. The Aussie batter struck Dubey for a four and hammered a six each off Harshal Patel and Eshan Malinga. Patel was despatched for boundaries off successive deliveries, the first one an edge that Kishan failed to latch on to again. Harsh Dubey had the last laugh as he got his maiden IPL wicket when he got a ball pitched around off to spin away, and Marsh slices it to Malinga at short third. March ended up with 65 off 39 balls, hitting six boundaries and four maximums.
Markram reached his fifth half-century of IPL 2025 with a single, hitting four boundaries and three maximums. He was dropped by Aniket Verma off Zeeshan Ansari but struck some good shots. Among them was a huge six off Dubey over the sight-screen in the 11th over and a similar one against Ansari in the seventh over, smoking a slightly short one over long-on. After surviving the stumping chance, Markram hammered Dubey for a six and four off successive balls. He eventually fell for 61 off 38 balls, castled by a slow one by Harshal Patel. He was Patel’s 150th wicket in the IPL.
In between, skipper Rishabh Pant (7) added another failure to his tally for the season, as did Ayush Badoni (3), as SRH pulled things back a bit. From 118 for 1 in 11 overs, LSG scored 50 for 2 in their next six overs to be 168/3 in 17 overs.
Nicholas Pooran struck a couple of fours in a lengthy over with two wides and a waist-high no-ball for 15 runs in the 19th over. In the final over bowled by Nitish Reddy, Pooran struck a six off the first legal delivery but found himself at the non-striker’s end as he could manage only one run. He was out on the next ball attempting a single with the ball in the wicketkeeper’s hand. Ishan Kishan made no mistake and hit the stumps to end Pooran’s innings. Pooran scored 45 off 26 balls, hitting six fours and a lone six.
Shardul Thakur (4) struck a four with a scoop on the legside but was run out attempting a single, and Abdul Samad (3) followed suit, inside-edging through his legs onto his off-stump. Akash Deep blasted the final delivery for a six to take them past the 200-run mark as LSG lost three wickets in the final over.
SRH also made hash of the last two overs, adding six extras to the last 12 balls. Eshan Malinga was their best bowler with 2-28.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 205/7 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 65, Aiden Markram 61, Nicholas Pooran 45; Eshan Malinga 2-28, Harsh Dubey 1-44) against Sunriser Hyderabad.
(IANS)
