Kannan Nair
- Apr 8, 2023
- 5 min read

IPL 2023, LSG vs SRH: LSG brush aside SRH by 5 wickets; go top of the table

IPL 2023, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Top Performances: Krunal Pandya's 3-18, KL Rahul's 35 and Ravi Bishnoi-Amit Mishra's 3-39 are top performances. LSG beat SRH and move to top of the points table.

IPL 2023, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Top Performances: Krunal Pandya's all-round brilliance (3-18, 34) helps LSG beat SRH | Walking wicket (Images_ ©IPL_Twitter)

Krunal's all-round brilliance (3-18, 34) helps LSG beat SRH (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

Brief Scores: SRH 121-8 (Tripathi 35, Anmolpreet 31, Krunal 3-18) lost to LSG 127-5 (Rahul 35, Pandya 34, Adil Rashid 2-23) by 5 wickets

Player of the Match – Krunal Pandya (3-18 and 34)

The Ekana Stadium in Lucknow was ready to host the Sunrisers Hyderabad with a wicket which was expected to stay low and be spin friendly from the word go. SRH’s full time captain Aiden Markram was back into the setup and brought some luck along the way as he won the toss and elected to bowl first against Lucknow Super Giants in the 10th match of the tournament. While LSG went with a spin heavy attack bringing in the experienced Amit Mishra, SRH went ahead with a pace heavy lineup on what looked like a slow and low turning wicket.

LSG restrict SRH to 121/8

LSG bowling innings started with two seamers, Kyle Mayers and Jaydev Unadkat, and the ball was staying low from the very first over. As soon as LSG captain KL Rahul introduced a spinner into the attack, the pitch kind of came into its own. Krunal Pandya struck fist blood in the third over of the innings dismissing Mayank Agarwal for a nothing shot. Anmolpreet Singh and Rahul Tripathi steadied the ship slightly and took SRH towards 43-1 at the end of the first powerplay. Krunal then further damaged SRH steadying ship with consecutive wickets in the eight over and ensured LSG were on top of SRH. At the end of 15 overs, SRH were 83-4 courtesy some poor shot selection and good bowling from Lucknow. LSG bowlers were spot on this slow wicket and didn’t err further either and restricted SRH for 121-8 in their 20 overs.

SRH’s love for fast bowlers wasn’t helping them win this match as they struggled against the free flowing LSG openers. In a low scoring game, LSG needed less than 7 runs per over and were at 45-2 after six overs, already over the par required rate. Krunal’s innings ensured SRH didn’t get back the momentum anytime and it was just a matter of time before LSG chased this total down with four overs to spare to jump to the top of the points table.

Talking Point: Baffling decisions by SRH team management

“Miserable”, the only word that could do justice to SRH’s management and captain’s decisions in Friday’s game. Right from picking the first eleven to picking the impact player, SRH made wrong calls one after the other. With the opposition spinners taking seven wickets, SRH still went with a fast bowler as an impact player which summed up SRH’s day. To make matters worse, SRH’s fielding was like of a gully cricket team. Harry Brook surely doesn’t look like a middle order player in Indian conditions and SRH need a major shake-up in their batting lineup and think tank, if they want to see themselves lifting the trophy.

Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between LSG and SRH in IPL 2023

Krunal Pandya exploits the wicket in Lucknow

As the experts predicted, it was always going to be low turning wicket and someone like a Krunal Pandya who doesn’t spin the ball but keeps it wicket to wicket would be lethal on this wicket. That’s exactly what Krunal did, giving zero to no room to batters, first dismissing Mayank Agarwal for a very soft dismissal who tried to drive Pandya but ended up giving catching practice to Marcus Stoinis.

Krunal who is accurate and whenever any batters missed, it was always going to be plumb with his line and pace at which he bowls. As soon as Krunal was brought into the attack again in the eighth over, a straight and fast arm bowl was enough to dismiss the debutant Anmolpreet Singh. Then walked the SRH captain who didn’t disturb the scorers either. The very next delivery, Krunal bowled a peach of ball, which spun from middle and off and took the off-stump for a walk. Markram walked backed to the pavilion for a golden duck.

Krunal wasn’t done yet; he walked into bat a position higher in the order at number four and counter-attacked the spinners. He attacked both Markram and Rashid and ensured that his cameo innings had made LSG cross the line before he was dismissed by Umran Malik after scoring 34 runs off just 23 deliveries.

IPL 2023, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Top Performances_ KL Rahul's 31-ball 35 takes LSG home against SRH; LSG beat SRH _ Walking wicket (Images_ ©IPL_Twitter)

KL Rahul's 31-ball 35 proved vital in 5 wicket win (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

KL Rahul did what KL does best – A steady anchor innings

Whenever it’s a low scoring run chase, one can close his eyes and put on radio and maybe have some Lucknow’s kebabs and bank on KL Rahul to do the job. Rahul did exactly the same, stood like a rock at one end, played aggressive shots to bad deliveries and blocked and respected the good ones for singles. Ensured that wickets were only falling from one end which was inevitable on this low wicket and the other end was kept unhurt. Some mesmerizing cover drives and straight flicks over mid-wicket and KL Rahul very nonchalantly closed in on 35 off 31 deliveries to take LSG home on this low scoring run chase.

‘BadeMiyan-ChoteMiyan’ duo of Ravi Bishnoi and Amit Mishra bamboozles SRH batters

Two leg spinners but very, very, very different from each other. Not just in their age but in their bowling styles too. Ravi Bishnoi - a fast leg spinner with more of arm ball like googlies and Amit Mishra - a typical classical leg spinner who would give lots of air to the deliveries to fox the batters. To top that, a pitch like this where the ball was keeping low was always going to be a nightmare for batters with both the leggies in the same team. Bishnoi for once dismissed a right hander with a leg spinner and not a googly. A very clever pre-wicket setup where he deceived Harry Brook with back-to-back googlies and anticipated that Brook might just charge down the wicket and pushed a slower leg spinner to which Brook obliged and was stumped.

Mishra who was bowling after two years came back for his final over in the penultimate over of the innings to dismiss Washington Sundar and Adil Rashid both in typical Mishra fashion, slow loopy leg spinners above the eyeline to just give catching practice to the deep fielders. The duo picked three wickets between them giving just 39 runs in their 48 deliveries.

Points Table Scenario & What's Next

A double header Saturday with Rajasthan Royals taking Delhi Capitals on in Guwahati in the afternoon game and the much awaited El Clasico between CSK and MI reserved for the Saturday evening. After the 10th game, LSG move up the ladder to the top of the table with four points from three games.

IPL 2023 Points Table