Obliteration
Sunrisers Hyderabad obliterated Lucknow Super Giants’ challenge by first stifling them with the new ball and then launching a sensational chase of 166 in just 9.4 overs, the highest 10-over score in any T20. The massive win lifted them to No. 3 in the points table with 14 points in 12 matches, but also gave them a much-needed net-run-rate boost. The chase was so brutal that LSG didn’t even bother with their Impact Substitute. A lot will rightly be spoken of the explosive batting of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, who got to their fifties in 16 and 18 balls respectively, putting on a hu8ndred inside the powerplay for the second time this IPL, both the highest powerplay scores in all of T20 cricket. However, it was with the ball that SRH set up the win. Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the way with figures of 4-0-12-2, conceding only in denominations of one, completely shutting down the LSG top order, which scored just 66 in the first 11.2 overs. That they were not enterprising enough was underscored by the unbeaten 99-run stand between Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran, which eventually proved to hopelessly inadequate.
Total knockout
Abhishek gets to fifty too
Now that's a powerplay
Fifty for Head
SRH on a rampage
Bhuvi singles
SRH up and running
LSG's second-best finish
Big finish for LSG
Badoni gets to fifty
Not Natarajan's day
Some momentum for LSG
Krunal is run out
Cummins gets Rahul
A four at last
We have 1000 sixes this IPL
Early impressions on Viyaskanth
LSG's slowest powerplay this year
Bhuvneshwar gets Stoinis
Bhuvneshwar now gets de Kock out
Cummins takes new ball
Bhuvneshwar continues to dominate de Kock
The latest Sri Lankan in the IPL
Viyaskanth is the first born-and-bred cricketer from his city to appear in an internationally televised game from Sri Lanka. Jaffna - which Stallions ostensibly represent - is the intellectual and commercial hub of the Tamil north, and has through the course of its history been home to some of the island's most erudite figures. More recently, the north and the east of the island have also produced a separatist ethnic struggle. From the 80s until 2009, Tamil separatists were locked in a brutal war against the mostly-Sinhalese Sri Lankan state. That the state did not adequately represent them was among the north's many grievances. As there has never been a born-and-bred northern national cricketer (at least since Sri Lanka achieved Test status), the cricket team has been seen by many as merely a microcosm of a deeply flawed nation.