IPL 2023 Live Report - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Lucknow Super Giants in Hyderabad

Sunrisers hit all of eight sixes. Pooran and Stoinis combined hit seven. And Super Giants accomplish a win chasing, only their fifth in last 14 occasions. Sunrisers' poor home run continues.

At the 12-over mark, SRH were 115 for 3 while LSG were way behind at 75 for 2. The digging-into-the-surface stuff was working for the bowlers. But Stoinis first and then Pooran, aided by a steady, maiden half-century by Mankad, helped Super Giants score the next 110 runs in just 44 balls. LSG are now at No. 4 in the points table, while SRH are on the brink.

14 needed off 12.

Natarajan gives away just three singles in the first four balls. And then goes for his best ball - the yorker - to Pooran. Goes wrong and turns into a juicy full toss that NickyP thumps over deep midwicket. A single then to end the over.

Pooran vs Nattu updated numbers: 42 runs, 24 balls, 0 dismissals

24 needed off 18 balls.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar back on. Bowls four balls and gives away just two. And then Pooran comes back on strike. Ends the over with 4, 4.

Pooran vs Bhuvi updated numbers: 61 runs, 45 balls, 3 wickets.

After a brief lull, LSG made up with two overs of 14 each and an 11-run over. Mankad brought up his maiden IPL half-century.

And then this happened.

Stoinis smacked Abhishek's left-arm spin for two sixes before falling in a bid to hit the third. Abhishek tossed it wider and asked Stoin to go over wide long-off, with Samad taking a well-judged running catch. But then, he bowled all the three remaining balls in Nicholas Pooran's arc and was duly thrashed for three maximums.

Bowling it into the surface is working for Sunrisers. Abhishek bowls a couple of half-trackers but gets away with that. Farooqi and Natarajan also used the method to bowl short and back of a length. Both Stoinis and Mankad were done in by the length as well as the change of pace.

LSG 89 for 2 in 13 overs, need 94 off 42

Quinton de Kock started the over with a lofted drive back over Markande's head. But the legspinner had his revenge, getting de Kock skying a reverse sweep on the next ball. But Marcus Stoinis creamed his first ball with a perfectly-timed cover drive making it a 11-run over.

LSG 61 for 2 after 9, 122 needed off 66

Five No. 3 batters used by LSG in IPL 2023. KKR have also used five such players at that position while RCB tried six batters at one-drop.

Bhuvneshwar and Farooqi never let Mayers get off the hook. He crawled to 2 off 12 balls when SRH baited him by bringing on the part-time offspin of Phillips. Mayers generally clobbers spin in IPL 2023 and looked to attack Phillips right away. But he miscues it straight to mid-on, walking back for 2 off 14 balls.

Mayank Markande has been the go-to spin option for Sunrisers in IPL 2023 and he has responded well. His 11 wickets have come at an economy of 7.3 as opposed to eight wickets by other SRH spinners at an economy of 8.3. Nine of his wickets have come in the middle overs.

How will he fare today? And should LSG throw him off his radar by pushing Nicholas Pooran up?

Sunrisers had the perfect platform for the death with the 16th over going for 15, with a set and marauding Klaasen hitting Mishra for two sixes in the over.

But Krunal's one over and Thakur's two in the phase went for single-digit scores. It meant that even if the penultimate over, bowled by Avesh, went for 12, LSG concede only 37 at the death.

Heinrich Klaasen takes a liking to spin. He has a strike rate of 181.48 against spin in IPL 2023, the most by any batter who has faced at least 75 balls. In fact, only Glenn Maxwell (in 2014) and AB de Villiers (in 2015) have had a higher strike-rate in an entire season with these qualifications - 203.33 and 195.06 respectively.

Klaasen did this to Amit Mishra's final over:

Viewer: Define peach in cricket.

KP: Tossed up ball, in line of the stumps. Inviting the batter out. Spinning past the outside edge, just over the stumps. The wicketkeeper whips off the bails. Batter flummoxed. Markram out.

Viewer: Didn't get you, can you repeat, please?

KP: Darts it in a tad quicker. A tad fuller around middle and leg. Has the batter playing it off the back foot instead of the front foot. Straightens and whizzes past the outside edge to take off pole. Batter puzzled. Phillips out.

In IPL 2023, Markram has been dismissed six times by spinners - twice each by left-arm spinners and legspinners. He has a strike rate of only 63.63 against slow left-arm orthodox this season.

Rahul Tripathi has been a tad suspect against pace in IPL 2023. Eight of his ten dismissals this season have come against pace, as opposed to two against spinners. He also strikes at 113.58 against pace as opposed to 139.83 against spin.

LSG quite knew what Tripathi dislikes. On the second ball, Yudhvir greeted him with a nasty bumper, one that pinged his helmet when he attempted the pull but missed. But in the eight balls he then faced from Krunal and Avesh Khan combined, he managed to hit four fours.

But then Yash Thakur, brought on for the final over of the powerplay, managed to surprise him with a mean bouncer, one that Tripathi only gloved to the wicketkeeper in an attempted pull.

Well, no need for a left-arm spinner to get rid of Abhishek. Yudhvir Singh bangs one in and catches the glove of Abhishek, who was fending at that. Early strike for LSG!

Abhishek Sharma has had an up-and-down season thus far. Firstly, he has played eight of ten matches SRH have played before today. Out of those, he has single-digit scores - 0, 1, 5, 9 - in matches in Hyderabad.

But Abhishek's strike rate of 149.20 (before today) is the seventh-best in the phase among those who have faced at least 60 balls in the phase. Moreover, he has looked at ease against both pace and spin - save for the left-arm variety. Will Krunal Pandya bring himself on early today?

Sunrisers have opted to bat and captain Aiden Markram said that the choice was because it's a day game. And that means Super Giants will chase. Sanvir Singh makes his debut.

Yudhvir Singh comes in for Mohsin Khan and Prerak Mankad comes in for Deepak Hooda for Super Giants.

Sunrisers: Anmolpreet Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (capt), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Glenn Phillips, Abdul Samad, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Subs: Vivrant Sharma, Sanvir Singh, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Marco Jansen

Super Giants: Kyle Mayers, Quinton de Kock (wk), Prerak Mankad, Krunal Pandya (capt), Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Amit Mishra, Yash Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Yudhvir Singh, Avesh Khan
Subs: Swapnil Singh, Daniel Sams, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, Arpit Guleria