Lucknow Super Giants' playoff chances got a big boost after an all-important win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, with Prerak Mankad & Nicholas Pooran playing starring roles for the visitors with the bat.
Chasing a 183-run target, Lucknow were off to a sedate start, managing only 30 runs and losing Kyle Mayers' wicket in the powerplay.
Quinton de Kock along with Prerak Mankad then steadied the LSG innings. However, with the asking rate rising quickly, de Kock's dismissal in the 9th over put Lucknow in a precarious situation.
But after the second strategic time out, Marcus Stoinis took control and tonked Abhishek Sharma for two sixes before getting out on the very next ball.
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Nicholas Pooran though continued right from where Stoinis left off.
The Southpaw tonked three more consecutive sixes to plunder 31 runs off Abhishek's over and put Lucknow in the ascendancy.
Meanwhile, Prerak Mankad played the anchor's role and held the innings together, notching up his maiden IPL fifty.
But Nicky P proved to be the real difference, slamming 44 runs off just 13 balls to take Lucknow over the line with 4 balls to spare.
Earlier, Heinrich Klaasen and Abdul Samad's 58-run partnership for the 6th wicket saw Hyderabad post a competitive 182 on a slowish surface. But in the end it just wasn't enough.