IPL 2025: Sunrisers Hyderabad knock Lucknow Super Giants out of playoffs race with six-wicket win

Abhishek Sharma smashed half a dozen sixes in his 20-ball 59 to ensure a convincing six-wicket win for Sunrisers Hyderabad and knock Lucknow Super Giants out of the IPL playoffs race here on Monday (May 19).

Mitchell Marsh (65 off 39) and Aiden Markram (61 off 38) struck fifties before Sunrisers Hyderabad stemmed the flow of runs to limit LSG to 205/7.

In the absence of his unwell opening partner Travis Head, Abhishek took the onus on himself to provide a perfect launch pad in the run chase before Heinrich Klaasen (47 off 28) and Kamindu Mendis (32 off 21) did the rest.

Earlier in the innings, Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram's blitzkrieg and Nicholas Pooran's finishing touches led Lucknow Super Giants to 205/7 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Marsh's 65 and Markram's 61 did the groundwork for LSG and Pooran thrilled with his 45 to push the Super Giants to a tough total.

Hyderabad sent Lucknow to bat after which Marsh and Markram opened fire with their swashbuckling play. Marsh started the proceedings with the first shot of the match with a boundary and it was an eye-catching upper cut as he brought out his A-game straightaway.

He complemented it with an 80m top off Sunrisers captain Pat Cummins on the fourth delivery of the first over to signal the start of his merciless rampage. Marsh smashed the ball over long-on off Harsh Dubey in the subsequent over to clear his intentions early.

Markram joined the party in the third over by perfectly driving Cummins' 144kph ball to the fence. Markram received a lifeline after Ishan Kishan fluffed his opportunity to stump him. The South African batter punished the Sunrisers for the failure by finishing the over with a four and a six to establish total domination in Lucknow's home den.

The aggressive opening pair kept Lucknow intact as they hammered a series of boundaries to finish powerplay at 69/0. Marsh scored his fifty after the powerplay, while Markram went on riding high on his fortune after Aniket Verma missed the opportunity to get him caught on 38.