Rishabh Pant and Aiden Markram played the leading roles for Lucknow Super Giants as they beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad by five-wickets with just one ball to spare in a tense Tata IPL match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday afternoon.
Captain Pant paced his subdued innings to perfection to finish unbeaten on 68 from 50 balls with nine fours to guide his team to 160-5 after Heinrich Klaasen had inspired a remarkable Sunrisers fightback from 26-4 to reach a competitive 156-9 on a slow, awkward pitch.
Markram laid the platform for the run chase with a six fours and two straight sixes in a composed 45 from only 27 deliveries before toe-ending a drive to long off but there were regular stutters and stumbles during the LSG innings requiring Pant to temper his usual flair in order to secure the victory.
Stand and applaud 👏 pic.twitter.com/KiyflwpxR8
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) April 5, 2026
Earlier veteran seamer Mohammad Shami delivered a masterclass in seam and swing bowling, removing dangerous openers Abhishek Sharma (0) and Travis Head (7) with consecutive deliveries before finishing with the remarkable analysis of 4-0-9-2 as the Sunrisers tumbled to 26-4 after being asked to bat first.
But Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy ‘flicked a switch’ after initially consolidating and added 116 in a shade over 10 overs to transform the innings in a blaze of boundary-hitting.
Both men scored at less than a run-a-ball from their first 20 deliveries until Reddy unleashed five sixes and three fours in quick succession to reach 56 from 33 balls while Klaasen’s 62 came from 41 balls with five fours and two sixes.
🇿🇦 HEINRICH KLAASEN & NITISH REDDY 🇮🇳
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) April 5, 2026
The 116-run partnership between Klaasen and Nitish Reddy has given SRH a chance to fight back in this game against LSG 🤝
📺 Stream #SRHvLSG on DStv: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw#TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/tRcdYVHpiL
The partnership ended when Reddy drove left-arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth (1-29) to deep extra cover in the 17th over and Klaasen’s reverse ramp against Avesh Khan (2-36) in the following over ended in the gloves of ‘keeper Pant.
The only other double figure score came from Englishman Liam Livingstone who inched his way to 14 from 20 balls in an attempt to repair the early damage.
It was LSG’s first victory after an opening defeat but a second defeat for the Sunrisers who are the first team to have played three matches.
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (captain/wkt), Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Manimaran Siddharth, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (captain/wkt), Heinrich Klaasen, Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat