A sparkling half-century from Nicholas Pooran and quick fifty from Mitchell Marsh and Shardul Thakur’s brilliant four-wicket spell steered Lucknow Super Giants to a five-wicket victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Uppal Stadium in Hyderabad in the IPL on Thursday.
Set to bat first, Sunrisers lost their way before posting 190/9 from their 20 overs.
Travis Head scored 47 off 28 balls but the other SRH batters, including Nitish Kumar Reddy (32), Heinrich Klaasen (26) and Aniket Verma (36), failed to convert their starts as Lucknow managed to keep them down to 190.
In the run chase, Lucknow chased down the target with 23 balls to spare with a stunning all-out assault on the Hyderabad bowlers from Pooran (70 off 26 balls) and Marsh (52 off 31 balls).
But the day was thakurs. All set for an assignment in English county cricket after going unsold at the IPL auction, the seamer has made a mockery of that decision to leave him by picking six wickets in two outings since being called up late by Lucknow Super Giants.
Thakur was released by the five teams he represented before the auction and remained unsold. But on Sunday he was signed on by Lucknow as a last-minute replacement for the injured Mohsin Khan.
Only four days later, he currently sits atop the race for the Purple Cap for most wickets, taking two in the Pune franchise’s opener against Delhi Capitals and his high-octane 4-34 propelled Lucknow to a five-wicket victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday.
Asked whether he thought he would be playing in IPL this season, player of the match Thakur said: “Honestly no but I had made my plans. I was also set to play county cricket if I did not get picked in the IPL.
“(Lucky coach) Zaheer Khan had called me when I was playing in (domestic) Ranji Trophy and he told me as a potential replacement, you may get the call so don’t switch yourself off.
“If you have to come in as a sub, you’ve probably going to start. So, the highs and the lows are quite natural. I have always had faith in my abilities.”
In a tournament in which batting-friendly pitches have predominated — with several teams easily going past 200 runs — Thakur said the pitches needed a more equitable balance where bowlers could also thrive.
Against Hyderabad, Thakur ran through the top order to get the better of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan for cheap, who scored a century in the previous game, he returned the minute to the seamer.
“There is not much for the bowlers in these sorts of pitches,” he continued.
Right from the last match I was saying that the pitches should be made in such a way that the game should be in balance on batters and bowlers.