Nicholas Pooran had given Travis Head a life when he dropped an easy chance from the Sunrisers Hyderabad batter. But as if to compensate for that, Pooran returned later to snuff the life out of the Sunrisers with a whirlwind knock that helped Lucknow Super Giants thrash the home team by five wickets in Hyderabad.

Pooran’s drop, at the long-on region, did not prove costly as the dangerous Head, then on 35, could only add 12 more runs to his total. The Caribbean T20 blaster then smashed a breathtaking 26-ball 70 to help the Super Giants tame a 191-run target in just 16.1 overs.

While Pooran’s power play and his brisk 116-run second-wicket stand with Impact Player Mitchell March (52 off 31 balls) proved key to the Super Giants’ convincing win, mention must also be made of the team’s bowling group.

Propelled by Shardul Thakur’s 4/34, the overall bowling of the Super Giants was quite disciplined as they limited the Sunrisers to 190/9 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. To restrict a power-packed batting line-up to almost 100 runs (96, to be precise) less than their last total at the same ground was certainly no mean feat from the Lucknow bowlers.

The pitch on this occasion was a tad on the slower side, though. And alongsideShardul, pacer Prince Yadav and tweakers Ravi Bishnoi and Digvesh Rathi also ensured not to bowl too many loose balls. Avesh Khan,playing his first game this season, also kept it tight in the slog overs.

Match-winning stand

The wicket did seem a bit easier for batting in the second half. But one has got to give it to the superb power-hitting from Marsh and Pooran. Anything loose from the bowlers and they thrashed it. Pooran, in particular, was brutal, finishing with six maximums and as many boundaries.

Marsh, too, ensured he made an impact, taking on Mohammed Shami even after the senior India quick picked up Aiden Markram early in the second over of the Super Giants’ run chase. On his part, Shami erred in line and length, and Marsh made sure to cash in on that.

When captain Pat Cummins — the only Sunrisers bowler who looked like putting the rival batters under pressure — finally dismissed both batters, they had already done the damage during those 7.1 overs of their partnership. The equation then read an easy 53 off 55 balls for Lucknow. And David Miller and Abdul Samad took them home with 23 balls remaining.

Pacers deliver

Unsold at the auction till the Super Giants called him up following the unavailability of Mohsin Khan, all-rounder Shardul made a statement with the ball. Precisely, it was Shardul’s double strike inthe third over when he dismissed Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan off back-to-back deliveries that turned out tobe a shot in the arm for the Super Giants.

Besides, it did put Head under some sort of pressure. Right through, Shardul ensured to bowl just alittle bit slower, which helped his cause.

In his final spell, he got a bit of a stick from Cummins. But following the Australia skipper’s dismissal off Avesh, Shardul regained composure to pick up Abhinav Manohar and Shami to reach the milestone of 100 IPL wickets.

Earlier, it was Prince Yadav, the 23-year-old pacer from Delhi who was clobbered by Ashutosh Sharma in the Super Giants’ one-wicket loss to Delhi Capitals in their previous match, who got rid of Head and also had a hand in the run out of Heinrich Klaasen.

Klaasen’s departure at the end of the 12th over was a critical moment of the game which hurt Sunrisers’ plans.