Super Giants down Sunrisers as Aussie stars light up IPL

Lucknow Super Giants beat Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday (AEDT) to get their first win of the 2025 Indian Premier League, winning by five wickets thanks to a fast start by Nicholas Pooran that overshadowed a brilliant cameo from Pat Cummins.

After making 6/286 in their opening match, SRH were heavy favourites across IPL bookmakers to go two from two at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium to start the season.

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However, their batting was far less free-flowing against the bowling of LSG, with two wickets in the first 14 balls stymying any early momentum.

Travis Head (47 from 28) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (32 from 28) got things back on track, while Heinrich Klaasen (26 from 17) and Aniket Verma (36 from 13) kept it going in the middle overs.

Fast bowler Cummins (18 from 4) then played an extraordinary cameo, hitting the first three balls he faced for six in the 17th and 18th overs.

LSG were impeccable at the death, though, with the final two overs going for just 10 runs to restrict SRH to 9/190 as Shardul Thakur took his best IPL figures of 4/34.

The visitors also lost an early wicket, with Aiden Markram falling for 1 from 4 in the second over, but were near-perfect after that as Pooran (70 from 26) and Mitchell Marsh (52 from 31) combined for a 116-run stand from just seven overs.

The damage was done by the time Pooran fell in the ninth over, allowing the rest of the LSG lineup to cruise to victory with 23 balls and five wickets in hand.

“Definitely a big relief, but as a team we talk about the process,” LSG captain Rishabh Pant said after his team’s first win of the season.

“We don’t want to get too high after winning and too low after losing, taking it one match at a time. 

“It was a big concern, but as a team we don’t want to focus on uncontrollables.”

Despite the loss, Hyderabad remain favourites to win the 2025 IPL, though they now sit level with Chennai Super Kings in outright betting at +400 with BetOnline.

Lucknow remain longshots for the title, shortening slightly from +1600 to +1200 with leading cricket bookies.

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