Fast bowler Avesh Khan’s 4-24 helped newcomers Lucknow Super Giants beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 12 runs to register their second successive win in the IPL on Monday.
Avesh rattled the top and middle orders, and fellow fast Jason Holder delivered a solid final over to restrict Hyderabad to 157 for nine in Mumbai, where they were chasing 170.
Holder, a West Indian all-rounder making his Lucknow debut, took three wickets, including two in the 20th over with Hyderabad needing 16 runs to win.
Earlier skipper KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda hit half-centuries to guide Lucknow, one of the two new teams added to the Indian Premier League this season, to 169-7.
Rahul, who made 68, and Hooda, who smashed 51 off 33 deliveries, put on 87 runs to lift Lucknow from 27-3 after being put in to bat first.
Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson said: “If you look at the performance, it was certainly much improved from our first outing.
“The start with the ball was outstanding. We were in a strong position…if we could just break that next partnership. Credit to Hooda and Rahul.”
Opener Quinton de Kock (one) and Evin Lewis (one) fell early to Washington Sundar’s spin but Rahul and Hooda rebuilt the innings.
The batting pair survived an express spell of pace bowling from Umran Malik, who bowled the fastest ball of the match at over 152 km/h (94 mph), before they took the attack to the opposition.
Hooda reached his fifty in 31 balls, hitting three fours and three sixes, but he was quickly dismissed by Hyderabad’s new West Indies import Romario Shepherd.
Rahul kept the onslaught going with Ayush Badoni, who scored 19 runs off 12 balls in the final two overs before getting trapped lbw by T Natarajan.
Hyderabad was then pinned back by Lucknow, with Avesh dismissing the openers, including Williamson, for 16 runs.
Rahul Tripathi (44) helped put the chase back on track before Nicholas Pooran (34) and Sundar (18) raised hopes of a win, but Lucknow’s bowlers kept coming back with wickets.
Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya claimed the wickets of Tripathi and Aiden Markram as Hyderabad lost their second game in a row.
The 10-team Twenty20 tournament will end on May 29, with league matches limited to four venues in Mumbai and Pune with small attendance.
