Match 57 of the IPL 2024 edition saw the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) return to winning ways with a ten-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Hyderabad on Wednesday (May 8). With the race for the playoffs intensifying with each passing game, Hyderabad mauled Lucknow to get to 14 points and climb to the third spot whereas KL Rahul & Co. need to win their remaining two games after two back-to-back big defeats.

Talking about the game, LSG opted to bat first and rode on Ayush Badoni’s 55* and Nicholas Pooran’s 48* to post a moderate 165 for 4 as Travis Head’s 89* (30) and Abhishek Sharma’s 75* (28) helped SRH win without dropping any sweat, chasing the target in just 9.4 overs. After the heavy loss, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka was seen fuming and had an animated talk with skipper Rahul publicly. The video of the entire discussion went viral on social media platforms, where Goenka can be seen being miffed with the team’s performance at a crucial stage of the tournament. 

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As soon as the video went viral, many claimed that this entire conversation could have been in the dressing room, away from public glare. Talking about Lucknow’s position, they are now at the sixth spot with 12 points but have a poor Net Run Rate (NRR); i.e. -0.769. They have two more games to play — both away encounters versus Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI).

Thus, Rahul-led LSG have a herculean task to win both their remaining games to stand a chance to qualify. After SRH openers Head-Abhishek’s unbroken 167-run opening stand, Rahul said at the post-match presentation, “Am lost for words. We have watched that kind of batting on TV. But this is unreal batting. Everything seemed to find the middle of the bat. Kudos to their skills. They have worked hard on their six-hitting skills. They didn’t give us a chance to know what the pitch played in the second innings.”

He added, “Was hard to stop them as they teed off from ball one. Once you are on the losing side, there are questions marks on the decisions taken. We were 40-50 runs short.”

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