The Lucknow Super Giants easily won the match by five wickets after Sunrisers Hyderabad set a 191-run total in Match 7 of the 2025 IPL.
The LSG batsmen dominated the target with 23 balls remaining, and David Miller hit the game-winning boundary off Ishan Kishan. The game’s highest scorer, Nicholas Pooran, made the chase simpler with a booming 70-run knock.
At the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, LSG bowlers’ clinical bowling earlier in the game enabled the team limit SRH to less than 200, which is becoming a little unusual in the IPL, particularly after the previous season. While Travis Head was Hyderabad’s solitary bright spot in the first innings and Aniket Verma made a spectacular cameo towards the finish, Shardul Thakur was the team’s standout player with the ball.
Talking Points
1. The value of Shardul ‘Unsold’ Thakur is demonstrated
Abhishek Sharma, the opener, was removed by Shardul on the opening ball of his second over, while Ishan Kishan was removed on the very next ball. Since only Head continued to establish boundaries and others found it difficult to get going, the double whammy effectively stopped the flow of runs from SRH’s end. Shardul finished with 4-34 in his four overs, taking a few more wickets during the second period. With his final wicket of the day, he also reached 100 wickets in IPL history. In addition, the Palghar Express has been named the IPL 2025 Purple Cap winner.
2. The show is run by Poo.
Aiden Markram was the first to be removed from the game early in the chase. But Nicholas Pooran, who arrived at three, didn’t waste any time in establishing limits. Pooran scored at a lightning-fast pace, swaying his way to the quickest fifty of the season off just 18 balls. Additionally, he and Mitchell Marsh shared 116 runs, with Marsh scoring 52 off 31. Before being dismissed lbw by Pat Cummins, the Caribbean batsman continued to swing his blade, finishing with 70 off just 26 balls.
3. A taste of their own medicine for SRH
Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been the league’s most feared opening duo ever since they began playing for SRH. Shardul Thakur made sure he didn’t let the couple continue, despite their reputation for enticing the game. Head left after being hit by Prince Yadav’s stunning yorker, despite finding a couple balls played towards the boundary. Pooran and Marsh scored runs at a blistering pace during the chase, showing the Pat Cummins-led team that cricket can be a fantastic leveller.
Who Said What?
Shardul Thakur, Player of the Match, said
“I had made my plans. I had signed for County Cricket if I wasn’t picked for IPL. While playing Ranji, I got a call from Zaheer Khan that we are looking at you as a potential replacement, so don’t switch yourself off. If we get you we’ll need you to start. That was the day I got back in the IPL zone. Ups and downs keep happening. That was a bad day when I wasn’t picked in the auction.
Of course, some swing and what we have seen is that Travis Head and Abhishek like to take their chances so let me take my chances as well. See I feel bowlers get very little on this kind of pitches. Even in the last game pre-match I said that pitches should be prepared in such a way that the game hangs in the balance for batters and bowlers. Especially after the Impact Player rule, it’s not fair on the bowlers.”
Rishabh Pant, LSG captain, said
“Definitely a big relief, but as a team we talk about the process. We don’t want to get too high after winning and too low after losing, taking it one match at a time. It was a big concern, but as a team we don’t want to focus on uncontrollables. Like my mentor said, focus on controllables. Good to see Avesh come back, Shardul bowling well. [On Pooran’s batting position] I think we just want to give freedom to him. I like that freedom too. But we’ve just told him to go express himself and he’s batting phenomenally for us. Everyone is preparing really well, training well.”
Pat Cummins, SRH captain, said
“Different wicket to the other day. We wanted to get above 200. A little short but they batted very well. The other day was the world’s best wicket, today’s was probably the second best. Every time it’s a fresh game. Really happy with how we went. They bowled really well. A few things didn’t go our way, but we did pretty well to get to 190. You always hope for that one person to bat through the innings, like Ishan did that day. But we missed that.
But we had a few good cameos. You always back your players to play how they see it. Normally, when someone gets in, they go long. We have batting till 8 so we are not telling someone to bat 50–60 balls, just go out and make an impact. We’ll review it, see what we could have done better. It’s a long competition. So you kind of ride last game’s high and this game’s low.”
India
