SRH vs LSG: Shardul Thakur shines with ball and Nicholas Pooran closes out with bat | Ipl News

SRH’s batting stutters to put on a mediocre score on a belter and Pooran powers LSG to a comfortable winLucknow Super Giants breached Sunrisers Hyderabad’s fortress on Thursday as their bowling plans worked to curtail the power-packed SRH batting order. SRH’s bowling issues, which surfaced last season, continued to pers.
Pooran’s fast hands
“You have a great bat speed; is it natural or you worked on it?” Nicolas Pooran’s answer to the commentator WV Raman’s query was quite something. “I have never worked on my bat speed, just a natural incredible talent!” He said with the same nonchalance with which he pummelled the SRH bowling.
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The left-hander is in Don Bradmanesque form in the T20 format. Regardless of the league he plays for, he has been piling runs at an unrealic strike rate. With his ability to stay still and virtue of his fast hand-speed he got into positions as late as possible, making a mockery of the SRH bowling attack. Out of his 70 runs, 60 came in boundaries with six fours and six gigantic sixes. His knock at a strike rate of 269.23 made the 191-run target easily attainable for the rest of the batting order.

Raining sixes in Hyderabad… but #LSG
Nicholas Pooran show guides LSG to 77/1 after 6 overs
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Mitchell Marsh who slammed 72 in the game against Delhi Capitals back played second fiddle to Pooran as he strolled to his half-century. Pat Cummins picked up both Pooran and Marsh in consecutive overs in the middle-passage but it was too late then. Though LSG’s middle order lost a few more wickets down the line, the former SRH player Abdul Samad smashed a 8-ball 22 to ensure Delhi won with 23 balls to spare.
Shardul’s redemption
SRH didn’t get a flying start, which they are accustomed to at the Uppal stadium. Shardul Thakur, who went unpicked in the auction and was drafted in late Lucknow Super Giants, grabbed a four-wicket haul and the Purple Cap. First, it was a well-disguised short ball from Shardul which Abhishek Sharma pulled straight to Nicholas Pooran at square-leg, placed there for exactly that shot. Next ball, Shardul got a bit lucky when Ishan Kishan – fresh from a hundred in the last game – was caught down the legside. He returned in the final overs to take the wickets of Abhinav Manohar and Mohammed Shami to reach 100 IPL wickets.
Thakur would not bowl two similar deliveries consecutively, keeping the big-hitting SRH batters guessing. He mixed up his lengths and lines brilliantly, targeting the wide line cleverly whenever batters looked for a release shot.The other bowlers too didn’t risk bowling full and into the hitting arc of SRH batters. They struck to hard lengths and the full ball was used as a variation.

Shardul Thakur spearheads LSG’s charge with crucial 4/34
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Once LSG did their job in the Powerplay, Prince Yadav put the breaks in the middle overs with immaculate execution of deliveries to the field set. His spell ensured SRH didn’t accelerate after a 62-run Powerplay. He bowled one fast and straight to get rid of Travis Head, and also played a key role in Heinrich Klaasen’s unfortunate runout at the non-striker end. Nitish Kumar Reddy smacked one straight back at Prince, who attempted to take the catch but the ball ricocheted off his hands and hit the stumps at the bowler’s end with the South African out of the crease.
Starts but no conversions
Music director S Thaman set the mood at the stadium with his thunderous beats ahead of the game but Sunrisers Hyderabad struggled to put in a similar performance with the bat.Story continues below this ad
It was not a complete combustion from the SRH batting order. The all-guns blazing approach of SRH was there to see but it was one of those nights when cameos didn’t go on to become scores of substance, as they fell short of a par score at the batting-friendly venue.
Abhishek and Ishan fell quite early but Head and Nitish held the fort for a bit. Head’s play through the covers was majestic on the night. An inside-out six over cover off Avesh Khan was a particular highlight.Nitish, who started his boundary count with an exquisite cover drive, struggled to maintain the same fluency as the innings progressed as he had to build some partnerships, and eventually perished for a 28-ball 32. Klaasen, too, blitzed for a while before getting out in an unfortunate manner.

When it seemed that SRH’s power-hitting was done for the night, young Aniket Sharma stepped up with a 13-ball 36 to provide that thunderous kick the innings lacked. He hit five sixes and though it was just a cameo, it gave a glimpse of another talented power-hitting prospect SRH have in their hands for the remainder of the season. Skipper Pat Cummins hit three sixes off the first three balls he faced, but once he got out on the fourth, Sunrisers fell short of the tall total they are accustomed to on their home turf.