IPL 2024: Badoni's fifty in vain as Head-Abhishek single-handedly pull the match for SRH

SRH’s Travis Head smashes one during the match against LSG in Hyderabad yesterday. Pic/PTI

It was raining sixes at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium last night as Sunrisers Hyderabad thrashed Lucknow Super Giants by 10 wickets with a whopping 62 balls to spare.

Opener Abhishek Sharma continued his fine form (75 not out off 28 balls) while his Aussie counterpart Travis Head (89 not out off 30) was at his destructive best as SRH made a mockery of the LSG total.

Earlier, thanks to the fifth wicket stand of 99 runs in 52 balls between Ayush Badoni (55 not out) and Nicholas Pooran (48 not out), LSG put up 165-4 even though Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-12-2) gave an exhibition of excellent swing bowling yet again.

Opting to bat, LSG fumbled before Pooran and Badoni took charge on a sluggish pitch. Bhuvneshwar struck in his second over as Quinton de Kock perished to a brilliant on-the-line catch by the athletic Nitish Reddy at square-leg. The India swing bowler then removed the dangerous Marcus Stoinis, held nicely by a diving Sanvir Singh at mid-on. LSG were reduced to 21-2 in 4.2 overs.

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Skipper Pat Cummins's decision to give three successive overs to Bhuvi paid rich dividends to SRH, who were on top.

Skipper KL Rahul, who has come in for some flak for his strike-rate, could not force the pace in the first six overs as LSG scored only 27 runs. Bhuvi had a super first spell of 3-0-7-2. Incidentally, Rahul (33-ball 29) got his first four in the tenth over - a lofted shot over mid-off off Cummins. But, the Aussie pacer ended Rahul's misery by having him caught in the deep.

Cummins was again in action when his direct throw at the non-striker's end from mid-off had Krunal Pandya (24) short of his crease. It was a horrendous call by Pandya, who hit it straight to Cummins and went for a run.

The advent of West Indies left-hander Pooran and young Badoni saw some acceleration in the LSG score. The duo seized the initiative from SRH bowlers with some innovative and bold batting. Bhuvi came back in the 18th over and conceded just five runs to keep LSG batters in check. But Pooran and Badoni flayed the SRH attack in the last two overs.

Rookie Lanka leg-spinner Vijaykanth Viyaskanth, who was signed up as a replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga, made a wonderful debut as he conceded just 27 runs in his four overs. Tall pacer Marco Jansen was left out and the team brought in Viyaskanth while Sanvir Singh came in for the out-of-form Mayank Agarwal.

Brief scores
SRH 167-0 in 9.4 overs (T Head 89', A Sharma 75') beat LSG 165-4 in 20 overs (A Badoni 55', N Pooran 48'; B Kumar 2-12) by 10 wickets