NEW DELHI: All-rounder Krunal Pandya shone with both ball and bat to guide hosts Lucknow Super Giants to a comprehensive five-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring match at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Friday.
The win propelled the Lucknow side to the top of the Indian Premier League 2023 standings with four points from three games. They have the same points as defending champions Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings, the two unbeaten sides, but sit on top via a better net run rate of 1.358.
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Krunal first took an impressive 3 for 18 and along with fellow spinners Amit Mishra (2/23) and Ravi Bishnoi (1/16) helped LSG restrict visitors SRH, who opted to bat first, to a below-par 121 for 8.
As it happened: Lucknow vs Hyderabad
Krunal (34 off 23) then put on a valuable 55 runs for the third wicket with captain KL Rahul (35) to set the platform for a commanding win at home for LSG. Adil Rashid delayed the inevitable with a double-wicket over in the 15th over, but could not stop the hosts from completing the chase with 24 balls to spare.
By the time Krunal was out in the 13th over, LSG needed just 22 runs to win. The home side eventually reached 127 for 5 in 16 overs.
Rahul hit four fours during his 31-ball knock while Krunal's innings was studded with four boundaries and one maximum.
Rahul and Romario Shepherd (0) were out off successive deliveries bowled by Adil Rashid (2/23) in the 15th over but that was just delaying the inevitable.
Experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 13 runs in the first over of LSG's run chase, giving away five wides and Rahul hitting a four.
1/10:IPL 2023: Lucknow Super Giants beat Sunrisers Hyderabad to win spin shootout
ANI
2/10:LSG outclass SRH
<p>Krunal Pandya's 3/18 led a wounding spin attack for Lucknow Super Giants to outclass Sunrisers Hyderabad on a slow pitch for a five-wicket win on Friday. </p>AFP
3/10:SRH batting woes
<p>Sunrisers wilted under a relentless 13 overs of spin and managed to cobble together just 121/8 after electing to bat first. </p>ANI
4/10:Amit Mishra
<p>Amit Mishra, who missed last year's tournament, vindicated his return to the IPL with 2/23 in four overs on the slowest pitch of the season so far. </p>IANS
5/10:SRH spinners
<p>The Sunrisers tried hard to fight fire with fire but their own spin attack took too long to yield results with too small a total to defend. </p>AFP
6/10:Pandya the batsman
<p>Lucknow scored 127/5 in 16 overs and Pandya also shone with the bat, scoring 34 off 23 balls for the third wicket. </p>AFP
7/10:Pandya the bowler
<p>But it was Pandya's left-arm spin that sealed the win, with Mayank Agarwal sent back for eight and Aiden Markran falling for a golden duck on captaincy debut. </p>IANS
8/10:Ravi Bishnoi
<p>Leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi took 1/16 for Lucknow and now has six wickets in three outings. </p>PTI
9/10:KL Rahul
<p>LSG skipper KL Rahul anchored Lucknow's innings with a sedate 35. </p>PTI
10/10:SRH at the bottom
<p>Sunrisers have now lost both their opening games and are languishing at the bottom of the IPL points table. </p>PTIRahul found the boundaries against Washington Sundar and Aiden Makram but lost his opening partner Kyle Mayers (13) in the fourth over bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi who came in as SRH's impact player in place of Rahul Tripathi.
Bhuvneshwar made amends for his expensive first over, scalping the wicket of Deepak Hooda (7), caught and bowled, in the last powerplay delivery to reduce LSG to 45 for 2.
Rahul and Krunal denied SRH any success for 6.2 overs as LSG inched closer to the target.
LSG were always far ahead of the asking rate and they needed just 40 runs from the last 10 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Krunal snapped wickets of three top-order batters in a superb spell.
Krunal scalped the wickets of Mayank Agarwal (8), Anmolpreet Singh (31) and captain Makram (0) -- the last two dismissals from successive balls in the eighth over -- to reduce SRH, who opted to bat first, to 50 for 3.
Playing his first match of the season as well as the first as SRH captain, Markram went for a drive in the first ball he faced but it spun away to disturb his off stump.
Ravi Bishnoi then removed Harry Brook, stumped by Nicholas Pooran, for 3 as SRH were in tatters at 55 for 4 in nine overs. SRH could not recover from there.
Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra produced a fine spell of 2/23 later in the innings to restrict SRH to a small total. Mishra was substituted by 'Impact Player' Ayush Badoni with just one over left in the innings.
LSG skipper Rahul's ploy to introduce spin in the third over in the form of Krunal on a difficult wicket having variable bounce paid off.
Agarwal went for a drive only to hit straight to Marcus Stoinis in the third over to give LSG their first wicket. Five overs later, he trapped well-set batter Anmolpreet for an LBW before bowling out Makram the next ball to spoil South African's first outing as SRH captain.
From 43 for 1 after the powerplay overs, SRH were 63 for 4 at the halfway stage.
One-down Rahul Tripathi (34) played a lone hand in the second half of the innings as he stitched 39 runs, the highest partnership for SRH, with Washington Sundar (16), before he fell in the 18th over off the bowling of Yash Thakur.
Abdul Samad hit two sixes in the final over bowled by Jaydev Unadkat to take the SRH score past 120.
(With inputs from PTI)
