New Delhi: Fiery fifties from skipper KL Rahul (50-ball 68) and Deepak Hooda (33-ball 51), following a clinical bowling spell from Avesh Khan (4/24) powered Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to a 12-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a nail-biting thriller on Monday at DY Patil cricket stadium. After LSG batters posted a competitive 169-run target, their bowlers bowled remarkably well tonight as they held their nerves to defend 33 runs in the last three overs of the match to get their second win in this year's IPL.
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Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bowl first. For Lucknow, KL Rahul starred with the bat as he hammered six fours and one six to score 68 runs, helping his team post a respectable 169/7 in the allotted 20 overs against Hyderabad.
The star opener joined the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suresh Raina in an elite list as soon as he reached his fifty. Rahul, tonight, became the fifth Indian batter to complete 50 fifties in T20 cricket.
Most Fifties by an Indian player in T20 Cricket
Virat Kohli - 328 matches, 76 fifties
Rohit Sharma - 372 matches, 69 fifties
Shikhar Dhawan - 305 matches, 63 fifties
Suresh Raina - 336 matches, 53 fifties
KL Rahul - 175 matches, 50 fifties
SRH playing XI: Kane Williamson (c), Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Abdul Samad, Romario Shepherd, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik
LSG playing XI: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Manish Pandey, Evin Lewis, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Andrew Tye, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan