IPL 2025: Abhishek's blazing fifty, Klaasen's composed 47 help SRH knock out LSG (Ld)

Lucknow, May 20 (IANS) Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on a blistering half-century by Abhishek Sharma and a composed 47 by Heinrich Klaasen to outplay Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets and knock them out of the playoffs race in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on Monday.

In a must-win match, Lucknow Super Giants posted a challenging 205/7 riding on brilliant half-centuries by Mitchell Marsh (65) and Aiden Markram (61). But they relinquished the momentum in the middle-overs and lost three wickets in the final over, failing to reach a score of 220-plus, which they could have reached.

However, things continued to go against them as Abhishek Sharma struck a sensational 59 off 20 balls, racing to his fifty off 18 balls as Sunrisers reached 206/4 in 18.2 overs, chasing the 200-plus score at the Ekana for the first time in IPL.

The defeat dropped LSG to seventh position with 10 points from 12 matches, while Sunrisers scored their fourth win of the season (9 points).

Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a whirlwind start in their chase of 206 with Abhishek Sharma blazing to another half-century. Opening the innings with Impact substitute Atharva Tide in the absence of his regular partner Travis Head, Sharma was at his usual destructive best despite SRH losing an early wicket.

Taide, who tucked Akash Deep past square leg for his first four in the first over, struck debutant Will O'Rourke for back-to-back boundaries before the left-arm pacer from New Zealand had the last laugh, as a thick edge off Taide's bat from a hoick is caught by Digvesh Rathi at deep third. Taide, the 25-year-old from Akola in Maharashtra, was out for 13 to become O'Rourke's first wicket in the IPL.

Sharma was in his element at the other end, coming up with another destructive innings that set SRH on course for victory.

He punched Akash Deep for a four followed by a lofted six in the third over; repeated the four-followed-by-six act against O'Rourke in the next over, pulled Avesh Khan for back-to-back fours in the sixth over before destroying Ravi Bishnoi with four successive sixes in the seventh over to blaze to his half-century in just 18 balls.

But just when it looked like he will go on to further entertain the fans, Digvesh Rathi got him with a googly bowled outside off as Abhishek went for another big one but does not get enough bat and Shardul Thakur takes an easy catch to end his innings for 59 off 20 balls, laced with four boundaries and six maximums.

Ishan Kishan continued to torment the LSG bowlers, hitting some superb shots. He lapped Rathi fine for four and slog-swept Markram for a six before getting out, attempting an unnecessary reverse sweep off Rathi. Kishan scored 35 off 28 balls, and SRH fell to 140/3.

He and Abhishek Sharma added 82 runs for the second wicket in quick time, and Kishan raised 41 runs with Heinrich Klaasen.

Klaasen played a well-controlled innings, scoring 47 runs off 28 balls while Kamindu Mendis went for his shots at the other end. But with 19 needed from the last three overs, Klassen struck Shardul Thakur for consecutive boundaries before he was ruled to have edged one behind by DRS off the third ball. With Kamindu Mendis getting retired hurt a ball later, it looked like SRH had landed in a bind. But Aniket Verma struck a four and Nitish Reddy hit a four and scampered a single on the first two balls of the 19th over as SRH aced the chase again, completing the first successful 200-plus chase at the Ekana.

Earlier, asked to bat first, Lucknow Super Giants made a superb start in this must-win match as they stormed to 69 for no loss in the Power-play as the M&M (Marsh and Markram) Show continued to make merry.

Marsh and Markram put on another superb show at the top of the order as both reached their half-century in identical 28 balls. They raised 115 runs for the opening wicket, feasting on the bowling on a pitch that did not offer much, and were also helped by some sloppy work by SRH in the field.

Both Marsh and Markram were lucky as they survived a chance each early in their innings against debutant left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey, who showed nerves of steel despite being asked to bowl in the Power-play in his first match.

The 22-year-old Dubey nearly struck off his first delivery in IPL as Marsh bottom-edged behind a tossed-up delivery outside off, but Ishan Kishan failed to get down in time and the ball went through his legs. It was difficult, but a chance nevertheless.

Markram would have been out on the first ball of the fourth over, when he lost his footing attempting to flick a fullish delivery down the leg-side. Kishan was the culprit again as he failed to collect the ball cleanly for stumping.

Marsh capitalised on that and stormed to his half-century off 28 balls, hitting Pat Cummins for a four and six in the first over. The Aussie batter struck Dubey for a four and hammered a six each off Harshal Patel and Eshan Malinga. Harsh Dubey had the last laugh as he got his maiden IPL wicket when he got a ball pitched around off to spin away and Marsh sliced it to Malinga at short third. Marsh ends up with 65 off 39 balls, hitting six boundaries and four maximums.

Markram reached his fifth half-century of IPL 2025 with a single, hitting four boundaries and three maximums. He was dropped by Aniket Verma off Zeeshan Ansari but struck some good shots, among them was a huge six off Dubey over the sight-screen in the 11th over and a similar one against Ansari in the seventh over, smoking a slightly short one over long-on.

In between, skipper Rishabh Pant (7) added another failure to his tally for the season, as did Ayush Badoni (3), as SRH pulled things back a bit. From 118 for 1 in 11 overs, LSG scored 50 for 2 in their next six overs to be 168/3 in 17 overs.

Nicholas Pooran struck a couple of fours in a lengthy over with two wides and a waist-high no-ball for 15 runs in the 19th over, bowled Harshal Patel. In the final over bowled by Nitish Reddy, Pooran struck a six off the first legal delivery but found himself at the non-striker's end as he could manage only one run. He was out on the next ball attempting a single with the ball in the wicketkeeper's hand. Ishan Kishan made no mistake and hit the stumps to end Pooran's innings. Pooran scored 45 off 26 balls, hitting six fours and a lone six. They lost a couple more wickets before going past 200.

Digvesh Rathi (2-37) was the best LSG bowler on the night, but his effort went in vain.

Brief scores:

Lucknow Super Giants 205/7 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 65, Aiden Markram 61, Nicholas Pooran 45; Eshan Malinga 2-28, Harsh Dubey 1-44) lost to Sunriser Hyderabad 206/4 in 18.2 overs (Abhishek Sharma 59, Ishan Kishan 35, Heinrich Klaasen 47, Kamindu Mendis 32; Digvesh Rathi 2-37) by six wickets

--IANS

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