Pant guides LSG to IPL victory over Sunrisers
[Reuters] Rishabh Pant hit his first half-century of this year's Indian Premier League as the Lucknow Super Giants captain coolly guided his side to a five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad with a ball to spare. Pant initially started slowly but the left-hander provided moments of usual trademark flair and idiosyncratic strokeplay as he finished unbeaten on 68 off 50 balls. The India wicketkeeper was on strike on the final over of the game - bowled by Jaydev Unadkat - with nine runs required off six balls and whacked three fours to get the job done.
Earlier, LSG had bowled impressively at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad to restrict Sunrisers to 156-9. Experienced seamer Mohammed Shami (2-9) removed Sunrisers openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma cheaply before skipper Ishan Kishan was bowled by Prince Yadav. When Englishman Liam Livingstone top edged Digvesh Rathi for 14 the Sunrisers had slumped to 26-4 at the start of the eighth over.
A 116-run stand between Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy gave the total some respectability as they finished with 62 and 56 off 41 and 33 balls respectively but it would not turn out to be enough. IPL fixtures and results IPL table [BBC]