A side already backed into a corner by injury and form was pinned to the wall a bit more by a man with a point to prove.
Age had bent Mohammed Shami’s back, not his spirit. He arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday with the jersey changed, but the fire burning just as bright. And he struck, not with the fury of youth, but the precision of a legend to set up an eventual five-wicket win for the Lucknow Super Giants.
Sunrisers Hyderabad had engraved its orange-hued initials into the PowerPlay with outlandish scoring patterns, but Shami decided to bring the ‘Travishek’ party to a screeching halt. The veteran cleverly mixed his variations to dismiss Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, both undone by the lack of pace.
If Rishabh Pant’s call to bowl first drew roaring approval from the partisan home crowd, even as pundits were sceptical, it took twenty minutes for that decision to look inspired as that early excitement gave way to stunned silence around the stadium.
Ishan Kishan had barely found his footing when Prince Yadav shattered his off stump, sending the home side’s top three back to the pavilion for their lowest combined total in IPL history. The collapse deepened just beyond the PowerPlay as Liam Livingstone fell, with Pant’s exquisite anticipation cutting short the Englishman’s bid to rebuild the innings.
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At 35 for four, its lowest score at the halfway mark, SRH looked completely adrift, with the Orange Army desperate for a moment of relief. Even a ball trickling past the 30-yard circle was enough to spark applause.
That relief finally arrived in emphatic fashion. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen stitched together a breathtaking counterattack, producing SRH’s best partnership for the fifth wicket or lower.
The duo added 79 runs in just 30 balls, as they both raced to half centuries. For the first time in the game, the Super Giants appeared rattled. Shami watched from the dugout.
While the host ambitiously targeted a score in the 180s to give itself a chance in this contest, Manimaran Siddharth put the brakes on the 116-run stand when Nitish’s swing failed to clear Prince at deep extra cover. Klaasen followed three balls later, his attempted scoop ending in a diving Pant’s gloves. With their departures, the momentum drained away, and LSG quickly regained control to restrict SRH to 156.
The Super Giants turned to the tried-and-tested pair of Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh to marshal the chase, and Markram quickly provided evidence of his reputation at the top of the order, plundering 17 runs off Nitish’s opening over with crisp, authoritative strokeplay.
Eshan Malinga’s dismissal of Marsh was the lone bright spot for Sunrisers during the PowerPlay, which ended with Markram emphatically sending a short ball over fine leg. By the time he was undone by Shivang’s wrong’un in the tenth over, LSG was halfway to victory.
A struggling SRH bowling lineup persevered, triggering a brief wobble as it claimed Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran’s wickets in quick succession. But Pant remained unfazed, as the game dragged right down to the wire. His measured, unbeaten half-century braved all the late twists, taking LSG home with a boundary aimed at his dugout with just a ball to spare.
Published on Apr 05, 2026
