Lucknow Super Giant’s Avesh, Holder snatch victory from Sunrisers teeth

Mumbai, April 4: Avesh Khan’s 4/24 and Jason Holder’s 3/34 helped Lucknow Super Giants snatch victory from the jaws of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who were chasing 170 runs target in 12th match of Tata IPL at DY Patil Stadium here on Monday. Lucknow held their nerve to win their second match in a row by winning the match by 12 runs. This was their second successive win in the season, while it was Hyderabad’s second loss in a row. While Avesh picked up wickets in two separate spells, Jason Holder grabbed wickets when Hyderabad needed 16 runs in the last over. He sent back Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Romario Shepherd as they tried to go for big shots in a bid to cross over the line. After setting a competitive target for Hyderabad on the back of splendid fifties from KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda, Avesh struck early blows by removing openers Kane Williamson (16) and Abhishek Sharma (13) inside the powerplay. Rahul Tripathi (44) and Aiden Markram (12) kept the runs flowing with the Indian batsman smashing 5 boundaries and a six off 30 balls. Krunal Pandya, who bagged 2 wickets for 27 runs, restricted Hyderabad to the middle over. The match hung in balance when Washinghton Sundar (18 off 14) and Nicholos Pooran (34 off 24) were in the middle, but Lucknow snatched victory from Hyderabad’s jaws with top-notch bowling in the death overs as Avesh scalped two crucial wickets in the 18th over. Andrew Tye and Ravi Bishnoi did their bit to help the team register a win, though they went wicketless. Earlier, Rahul and Hooda’s fifties propelled Lucknow to 169 for 7 after they were sent in to bat by Hyderabad. It appeared as Rahul came into his grooves following a rough start to this IPL season. He had gotten a paltry 40 runs in the opening couple of matches, while he was dismissed for a duck against Gujarat Titans in the opener. His fans were relieved to see him getting some runs under his belt. He scored a fantastic 68 off 50 balls, which included 6 boundaries and a six, while Hooda scored 51 off 33 balls with 3 boundaries and as many sixes. This was Rahul’s 28th IPL half-century and Hooda’s fifth. Hyderabad skipper Williamson opted to bowl as Lucknow set off to a horrid start, losing three wickets of Quinton de Kock (1), Evin Lewis (1) and Manish Pandey (11), for only 27 runs on board in the powerplay. Sundar did the maximum damage by removing De Kock and Pandey. However, Rahul and Hooda played intelligently thereon to put on a vital 87-run partnership for the third wicket, bringing Lucknow back into the reckoning. Rahul dropped anchor, while Hooda took risk to accelerate the score, after taking some time to settle in. Once they departed after getting to their fifties, Ayush Badoni (19 off 12, 3x4s) came to the party to give final touches to the innings, before was runout to steal a run in the last ball of the innings. Holder scored 8 runs in 3 balls including  one six. Krunal Pandya (6) was the 6th wicket to fall. Sundar, Romario Shepherd and T Natarajan, all bagged a brace. (UNI)