The Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 has been amazing so far. Sunday’s first match in the second double header of IPL was between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The two sides have different beginnings; However, in this game, LSG defeated SRH by 5 wickets.
LSG captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and decided to bowl first. The Super Giants got exactly the start they needed as Mohammed Shami performed brilliantly, taking the wickets of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head in his first two overs and ending the spell with 9/2 from his four overs. Prince Yadav dismissed Ishan Kishan with a sensational ball.
Klaasen and Nitish Reddy save SRH
Later, Liam Livingstone, who was brought into the team, could not make much of an impact as he was unlucky in playing a lap shot which hit his shoulder and went to Rishabh Pant as their score was 26/4 at one stage. However, from there, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen stitched a 100-run partnership off 57 balls.
Klaasen scored his second consecutive half-century and completed the half-century in 33 balls. Nitish Reddy also scored his half-century in the match, his first in IPL 2026; He accomplished this in just 30 balls. Both the batsmen changed gears at the right time and turned the game for the Orange Army.
Klaasen was also out after scoring 62 runs. Avesh Khan brought LSG back into the game by taking two wickets in two balls. After a flurry of wickets, SRH, who were scoring 160+, had to settle for 156/9 in their 20 overs.
Rishabh Pant shines in IPL
LSG’s openers, Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram, got off to a good start as both the openers played cautiously despite the pitch being a bit slow. However, Marsh returned to the pavilion after scoring 14 runs in 12 balls. After the end of the powerplay, LSG’s score was 53/1 with Aiden Markram scoring most of the runs.
The Proteas captain played a good innings against his former franchise and was out on the score of 45 runs off 27 balls. Rishabh Pant is handling the responsibility and carrying the innings along with Ayush Badoni as both the batsmen keep rotating the strike. But Badoni returned to the pavilion after playing an unnecessary shot on 12 runs.
Soon Nicholas Pooran was run out in the most bizarre manner as after playing a sweep shot he thought the ball had gone past the keeper; However, the game was in the hands of Ishan Kishan and he took wickets. Pant had other plans as he scored his first half-century of IPL 2026 and won the game for his team. He remained unbeaten on 68 even though the SRH vs LSG match went down to the last ball.
It was a good game- Ishan Kishan
After the defeat, Ishan Kishan said, “It was a good game, the total score was not high enough. The bowlers bowled according to plan, credit to the fielders too, but one or two fours here and there can take the match. Losing four wickets early puts pressure on the other batsmen, but credit to Classy and Nitish for taking us past 150.”
“Rishabh played well when they were losing wickets. That score was tough to defend, taking it to the last over gives us a positive sign. Harsh bowled exceptionally well, hopefully he continues.
Also read: SRH register historic collapse after being reduced to 35/4 in 10 overs against LSG in IPL 2026
