SRH vs LSG: Prerak Mankad stands out among the rest in Uppal

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday suffered a defeat that would hurt them for the rest of the season. A seven-wicket defeat to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Uppal all but confirmed that Aiden Markram and Co would remain out of contention for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs, a stage which they last reached in 2020.

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Heinrich Klaasen (47) was by far the best of SRH batters on what was a disappointing day for the likes of Aiden Markram (28), Rahul Tripathi (20) and Abhishek Sharma (7), and it is that lack of unison in SRH’s batting lineup that has hurt them time and again this season.

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Abdul Samad (37*) and Anmolpreet Singh (36) displayed resistance, but it is that lack of contribution from the SRH middle-order that was worrying for the hosts on Saturday.

Prerak Mankad shines on the big stage

Almost a year since making his IPL debut, 29-year-old Prerak Mankad finally got the platform for him to shine. A 45-ball 64 in just your second season in the IPL is no mean feat, and Prerak Mankad did not take the occasion lightly.

Mankad came into bat very early in LSG’s chase, after they had lost Kyle Mayers in the third over.

Mankad, in just his second delivery, found the gap between cover and mid-off to collect a boundary off Glenn Phillips’ ball. And what was impressive about Mankad on Saturday was the way how he balanced between rotating strikes and collecting crucial boundaries.

In fact, at one stage, Mankad was at one stage 36 off 29 deliveries, and as a result, he looked under immense pressure then.

However, then came the strategic timeout when LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir and Andy Flower were involved in a chat with both Mankad and Stoinis, the batters batting at the time.

And probably, that chat from the team management changed Mankad’s batting approach. LSG needed 94 from seven overs at this stage, but Mankad fired on all cylinders, hitting Markande for a six over long-on.

He punished Markande a few deliveries later again, hitting him for a boundary by finding the gap between long-on and deep midwicket.

Mankad eventually got to his fifty inside 35 balls, pushing towards long-on for a single off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s ball in the next over.

While Mankad was involved in three different productive partnerships, with Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran, the 29-year-old’s biggest over of the match came in the 17^th over, when he hit T Natarajan for a maximum and a four. He launched over long-on for the maximum, while a top edge off his bat flew to third man fence for the four.

“I haven’t batted a lot at number 3 but have batted in the top four. I back my ability and strength, it worked out in the end. Whatever happens at the other end should not effect me, and because of Stoinis and Pooran we won this game,” Mankad said after the match.

No-ball controversy, and crowd trouble

Not all was well on the field. On-field controversy caused trouble during SRH’s innings. The incident happened in the 19^th over of the SRH innings when LSG pacer Avesh Khan delivered a seemingly what was a no-ball, with Abdul Samad on strike. The no-ball was also given by the on-field umpire, but LSG opted to review this decision, and to SRH’s surprise, the decision was overturned in Lucknow’s favour.

Heinrich Klaasen, the SRH batter at the other, was far from pleased with this decision, and complained to the umpires on it.

Not long after the spectators seated behind the LSG dug-out became hostile, and they needed intervention from the umpires to calm them down.

Klaasen was not a happy man after the incident. “Disappointed of the crowd to be honest, that’s not what you want. That also broke the momentum, not great umpiring either,” said the South African.

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