5 min readHyderabadApr 5, 2026 08:05 PM IST
In a roller-coaster encounter, Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant played a calculated 68-run inning to help them win their first game of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad, overshadowing Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy’s partnership.
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SRH continued to play catch-up in the game after a stunning burst of Mohammed Shami’s new ball bowling, supported by other bowlers, which reduced the hosts to 35/4 after the first 10 overs at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in Hyderabad.
Comeback men Shami-Pant soar
Mohammed Shami silenced the Hyderabad crowd with his masterfully planned new ball burst when he gave the famed SRH top order nothing to drive, and mixed up his hard-length seam-up deliveries with clever slower ones. He started with in-swinging deliveries into Travis Head, giving him no room whatsoever. The Aussie managed to sneak a single off the fourth ball, and Shami cleverly floated one up outside the off-stump to Abhishek Sharma off the final delivery. Sharma tried to hit the ball as hard as he could, but only managed to get the edge, which flew straight to short third man Manimaran Siddharth.
In the following over from Shami, it was Head, who got bamboozled by the 35-year-old’s slower delivery into the surface. Head was shaping to cut the ball through the off-side and was beaten all ends up as he ended up giving a simple catch to Aiden Markram inside the ring. While Shami was doing his thing from one end, Prince Yadav, who picked up a three-fer in the previous game, bowled a gem of a delivery to Ishan Kishan as the ball pitched outside the off-stump and moved subtly in after pitching to disturb the timber, and SRH were reduced to 22-3 after the powerplay.
OVER THE IN-FIELD! 😍
Captain Rishabh Pant guides the chase and finishes it off in style 🤌@LucknowIPL off the mark on the points table +2️⃣
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/qC2rF1Hiiz#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #SRHvLSG pic.twitter.com/SEDFsub4UD
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2026
Chasing 157 runs, LSG started well in the powerplay, compared to SRH scoring 53 runs. Aiden Markam was the key factor in that phase with sublime shots, setting up the game for LSG. He first built a valuable 37-run stand with Mitchell Marsh, who fell to Eshan Malinga’s short ball, and Markram joined skipper Rishabh Pant to construct another 40-run stand before getting deceived by left-arm wrist spinner Shivang Kumar. Markram’s dismissal brought SRH into the game, and the home side kept chipping away with the wickets. But Pant kept his cool and played a timely 50-ball 68. It was not the squash-bucking T20 innings where Pant looked to bombard every ball over the rope but a more calculated one, doing what was required for the situation.
In the last over, as LSG needed 9 off 6 after Harshal Patel bowled three dots in the 19th, Pant struck two boundaries off Jaidev Unadkat, and a third for good measure to take LSG home.
Klaasen-Nitish carnage
After SRH were reduced to 26-4, Klaasen had joined Nitish. It was the latter who started the counter-attack against Prince Yadav in the 10th over when the hosts were reeling at 35-4. Nitish smashed a six down the ground, and Klaasen followed with another six later in the over, and it opened the floodgates.
Nitish was the initial aggressor in the partnership, predominantly targeting the LSG spinners Digvesh Rathi and Manimaran Sidharth. His backfoot cuts through the point region, fizzed on the turf into the boundaries, and as he was comfortable with the pace of the surface, he started reminding rivals of the talent he possesses after a poor season last year with his 33-ball 56. Of the two spinners, Rathi was the major victim of Nitish’s assault when the 22-year-old gave an exhibition of his range-hitting down the ground in the 15th over. No matter what line or pace the mystery spinner varied, the ball sailed over the ropes. He celebrated his half-century with the trademark Pushpa celebration and gave a chef’s kiss to the crowd when he creamed an exquisite six off Avesh Khan over extra-cover.
Rebuilding in progress for #SRH! 💪
🎥 Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen take the aerial route to get the innings back on track 🤝
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/qC2rF1Hiiz#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #SRHvLSG | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/Jv6NeNtS0c
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2026
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While Nitish oozed the hyperactive energy in the partnership; Klaasen played the calm monk. He picked the pacers but with the precision to complement Nitish’s power. It was more of pushing the ball into the gaps with timing, playing the low-risk shots, yet managing to keep his strike rate on par with Nitish. It was Avesh’s 14th over, where Klaasen showed his ‘Klaasy’ touch when he started the over with a couple of crisp shots through covers, forcing Avesh to alter his plans of hitting hard-lengths. And then when Avesh bowled full in his arc, Klaasen got another boundary. When the pacer pulled his length back and bowled a short one, Klaasen blitzed one through mid-wicket. The duo piled 116 runs from 63 balls, and where the tag-team excelled in their counter-attack was that on six occasions they started the over with a boundary, which immediately put the bowler under pressure, forcing them to alter their plans right away.
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