Mohammed Shami’s experience laid the platform alright. But the road to victory still didn’t appear to be too smooth for the Lucknow Super Giants. However, captain Rishabh Pant was determined not to return empty-handed from Hyderabad on Sunday.
Pant stayed till the very end to guide the Giants home against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Batting at No. 3 in this game instead of opening, Pant hit an unbeaten 68 off 50 balls as the Super Giants overhauled the Sunrisers’ 156/9 to win the contest by five wickets with a ball to spare.
The chase got a touch tricky towards the end for the Super Giants with 9 needed off the final over. But Pant smacked pacer Jaydev Unadkat for three boundaries to finish the game in style.
Pant’s innings had nine boundaries and his choice of strokes was measured on a slow-ish track where Sunrisers spinners Harsh Dubey and Shvang Kumar weren’t easy to put away. Another interesting aspect of Pant’s innings was that he went about without hitting a single maximum.
It wasn’t really a fluent knock, till he accelerated after crossing 30.
In other words, he had to graft it out and more so, as his team was under pressure after losing their opener to Delhi Capitals in Lucknow.
“I know I’m preparing well. I want to let my bat do the talking. My colleagues and the management see how hard I work. That’s what matters,” Pant said later.
Quality spell
If not for Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy, who stitched a big partnership (116-run) once again, the Sunrisers, put into bat, might have struggled to post even 100. Such was the effect of Shami’s spell.
Bowling all his four overs in one spell, Shami (2/9) dismissed the dangerous opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head.
Both batsmen fell to the sudden change of pace, as Shami foxed them with the slower one. As many as 18 dot balls also characterised Shami’s spell. “Shamibhai did a fantastic job for us,” skipper Pant acknowledged.
Have the national selectors taken note of Shami's form and fitness?