5 factors that shaped SRH's historic 10-wicket victory against LSG

KL Rahul’s slow start 

Rahul scored just 29 runs in the 33 balls he faced. When he got out in the tenth over, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) had scored just 57/3. LSG managed only 27 runs in the first six overs, and such a slow first half of the innings impeded their final score massively. 

Bhuvi’s day out

Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled the most economical spell by a pacer, giving just 12 runs in his four overs and picking up the crucial wickets of Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis, and hence, single-handedly broke the backbone of LSG’s top order. 

Badoni’s superb resurrection of LSG’s innings 

Ayush Badoni came in to bat at number six in the 12th over when LSG were wasting away at 66/4. However, by the end of the innings, he added 99 runs to LSG’s score along with Nicholas Pooran. He especially targeted T Natarajan, scoring 37 of his 55 runs against the Salem superstar. 

The Abhishek - Head Tornado

Sharma and Head batted characteristically and even took their own standards a notch higher by chasing down the entire 166-run target themselves with 62 deliveries remaining and creating the record for the fastest chase on a 150+ total in T20 history. 

A day to forget for LSG

After spoiling half of their innings with the bat, LSG lacked lustre on the field as a unit. Rahul kept bowling his off-spinners (which included Badoni’s passable off-breaks) as it was a favourable matchup. Still, he kept Krunal Pandya waiting as he’s a negative matchup against the left-handed openers of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Yash Thakur also dropped Abhishek Sharma in the fourth over. None of their pacers troubled SRH openers and all conceded at more than 17 runs/over.