IPL 2026: Pant bats Lucknow to victory after Shami’s miserly spell against Sunrisers

Mohammed Shami‘s miserly 2-9 and Rishabh Pant‘s uncharacteristic half-century helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) open their account in IPL 2026 as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by five wickets in Hyderabad.

After Pant put SRH in, Shami dealt the early blows by dismissing Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head cheaply. He bowled three overs in the powerplay, and was done with his quota by the end of the ninth over.

Ishan Kishan and Liam Livingstone didn’t last long either, leaving SRH on 26-4 in the eighth over. Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy rescued them by adding 116 in 63 balls – the highest fifth-wicket partnership for SRH.

The previous record, of 82, was set in the previous game by these two very batters. But Avesh Khan and co came back strongly in the death overs to restrict SRH to 156 for 9.

Come the chase, Aiden Markram‘s 45 off 27 balls gave LSG the desired start. But the pitch wasn’t conducive to strokeplay, and LSG kept losing wickets at regular intervals. In the end, it came down to nine needed from the final over with Pant on strike.

He had barely looked fluent until then but found two fours off the first two balls off Jaydev Unadkat to level the scores. Two dots later, Pant lofted one over mid-off to seal the result.

Shami, Prince leave SRH in disarray

Bowling against his former team, Shami struck twice in his first seven balls. On the last ball of his opening over, he had Abhishek caught at short third with an offcutter. Then, with the first ball of his next, Shami outfoxed Head with another slower ball; Markram took a diving catch at mid-off on this occasion.

In the following over, Prince Yadav uprooted Kishan’s off stump with an inswinger to make it 11 for 3. Livingstone fell soon after. He tried to lap Digvesh Rathi but ended up deflecting the ball onto his shoulder.

Pant, who was moving towards the leg side, dived to his right to complete a one-handed catch.

Klaasen, Reddy revive SRH

For the second game in a row, Klaasen and Reddy had to revive SRH’s innings. They started slowly and took SRH to 35-4 after 10 overs – it was the fourth-lowest total by a team in the IPL at the halfway mark.

SRH had hit only one four and one six until then, but after that, Klaasen and Reddy took the attack to the opposition. They plundered 79 runs in the next five overs.

Klaasen, who was dropped on 19 by Mukul Choudhary off M Siddharth, brought up his fifty off 33 balls. Reddy took only 30 to get to his. After 16 overs, SRH were 123-4, and would have been eyeing 170 – probably even more.

LSG’s comeback

LSG’s bowlers brought them back into the contest with some excellent death bowling. Reddy holed out to sweeper cover off Siddharth in the 17th over. In the next, Klaasen went for a reverse lap off Avesh but ended up playing it too fine, and Pant dived across to take the catch.

That sucked the momentum out of SRH’s innings; they could score only 33 runs in the last four overs while losing five wickets on the way.

Markram leads the chase

Opening the bowling for SRH, Harsh Dubey started with a two-run over. But Markam and Mitchell Marsh picked up three fours off Reddy in the next. Markram also hit the first six of the innings when he pulled a slower ball from Unadkat over wide long-on.

Marsh fell to Eshan Malinga for 14 off 12 balls, but Markram kept going. In the last over of the powerplay, he hit two fours and a six off Unadkat to take LSG to 53-1.

Pant was struggling at the other end but Markram ensured LSG remained ahead of the asking rate. He eventually fell to Shivang Kumar while trying to clear long-off.

A wobble in the middle

Pant tried to break the shackles with back-to-back fours off Shivang in the 12th over, but Dubey had Ayush Badoni stumped. Nicholas Pooran came out at No. 5 and lasted just four balls. He swept Shivang fine, and set off for a single, without realising that Kishan had stopped the ball, and was thus run out.

Pant takes LSG home

With 43 required from five overs, LSG were still the favourites, but it was far from a walk in the park. Pant then picked up two fours off Unadkat, and Samad did the same against Malinga to make it 19 needed from 18 balls.

Dubey tried to keep LSG in the contest with Samad’s wicket, and Harshal Patel bowled a four-run 19th over. But Pant stayed firm. Unadkat started the final over with a full delivery; Pant drilled it past him for four.

Unadkat then bowled a slower one into the pitch, only for Pant to swat it down the ground for another boundary. Two dots later, Pant lofted one over mid-off to seal the game. (ESPNcricinfo)

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