New Delhi: Lucknow Super Giants cruised to their second win of the season in the IPL as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 5 wickets at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. Batting first, Sunrisers could only manage 121/8 as the Super Giants' spinners were all over them and picked six of Hyderabad's eight wickets.
Krunal Pandya was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Amit Mishra picked two. It was a comfortable chase with skipper KL Rahul top scoring with 35 runs (31b, 4x4). Krunal Pandya who was adjudged the Player of the Match contributed with the bat as well and scored 34 runs (23b, 4x4, 1x6). Former Indian cricketer Anil Kumble believes that Sunrisers' batting has let them down and was also not impressed by how they used Adil Rashid.
"It is not the greatest of starts. Even I had them in my Top-4 and I still believe that they have a good side, a very good batting line up. They have not fired. Their batting has let them down in both the matches. Even against Rajasthan Royals at their home ground, they didn't score enough runs. Even the bowling on this surface," he said.
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"Even when they played against Rajasthan, they missed a trick by not bringing in Adil Rashid against Jos Buttler. We all know Buttler, at the start of the innings doesn't like leg-spinners coming in and bowling. Even here, Adil Rashid was held till the first six overs. You only have 121 runs on board, use your main spinner. He should be bowling. Even Washington Sundar bowled just that one over in the powerplay. So, there are some things that they need to certainly work on but most importantly, they need to get their batting sorted."
Krunal put up a strong all-round show in the game. While bowling, he was economical and also picked up three key wickets including SRH skipper Aiden Markram and Mayank Agarwal and later scored a quickfire 34 in 23 balls. Former cricketer Suresh Raina heaped praises on his performance.
"He (Krunal) batted with good intent. Scored boundaries and then picked up singles as well, it was a good all-round performance today. The boundary he scored by stepping out, it is a difficult shot in these conditions and then the six to Adil Rashid, he looked in good form. Like he mentioned to the press, he has worked on it and is a good white ball cricketer," he was quoted as saying.
"He bowls during the powerplay and if asked to bowl later also, stands for his captain. In batting as well, he has good dimension. Looks to attack, has good intent and plays very less dot balls and whenever there is an opportunity, hits boundaries as well. He is a very important player for LSG." (IANS)
