Krunal Pandya’s all-round show helped Lucknow Super Giants notch a comprehensive five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Lucknow on Friday.
Krunal first took three wickets to restrict the Sunrisers to a paltry 121 for 8 and then contributed 34 off 23 deliveries with the bat to help the Super Giants chase down the target with four overs to spare in a low-scoring match.
He put on 55 runs with KL Rahul (35) for the third wicket to take the game away from the Sunrisers’ reach. When Krunal was out in the 13th over, the Super Giants needed 22 to win.
Nicholas Pooran hit a six off T. Natarajan to finally seal the victory. This was the Lucknow franchise’s second win in three matches.
Earlier, Sunrisers batters crumbled in the face of some disciplined spin bowling by Krunal and Amit Mishra. While Krunal picked up three for 18, the veteran Mishra claimed two for 23.
Man of the Match Krunal Pandya (right) of Lucknow Super Giants celebrates after taking Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Aiden Markram’s wicket on Friday. After taking 3/18 with the ball, Krunal hit 34 off 23 balls in Lucknow’s successful chase. PTI picture
Left-arm spinner Krunal scalped the wickets of Mayank Agarwal (8), Anmolpreet Singh (31) and captain Aiden Markram (0) — the last two dismissals from successive balls in the eighth over — to reduce the Sunrisers to 50 for 3 early in the innings.
Playing his first match of the season, Markram went for a drive off the first ball he faced but it spun away to knock off his off stump.
Ravi Bishnoi then removed Harry Brook, stumped for 3 as the visitors were in tatters at 55 for 4 in nine overs. Sunrisers just failed to recover from there.
Mishra produced a fine spell in the second half of the innings to put the brakes on Sunrisers’ run-scoring. Mishra was substituted by ‘Impact Player’ Ayush Badoni with just one over left in the innings.
Rahul’s ploy to introduce spin in the third over in the form of Krunal on a difficult wicket paid off as Mayank Agarwal departed early.
Five overs later, he trapped Anmolpreet plumb before bowling out Makram with the next ball to spoil his first outing as Sunrisers captain.
