Sunrisers Hyderabad win toss, opt to bowl against LSG, O’Rourke makes IPL debut

LUCKNOW: Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bowl against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday at the Ekana Stadium in the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

LSG, barely hanging by a thread, is one of the three remaining teams competing for the last playoff spot. Currently on a three-match losing streak, Lucknow must win their remaining fixtures to move to 16 points and hope favourable results unfold in the rest of the clashes. New Zealand tearaway Will O’Rourke was handed his maiden Lucknow cap, marking his debut in the cash-rich league.

Their opponents have failed to replicate last year’s success and are already out of the race for the playoffs. Sunrisers, last year’s runners-up, failed to keep momentum on their side throughout their rustic season.

Toss @SunRisers won the toss and elected to bowl against @LucknowIPL in Match 6⃣1⃣

Updates https://t.co/GNnZh90u7T#TATAIPL | #LSGvSRH pic.twitter.com/upINWS6jsc

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 19, 2025

After winning the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins said, “I will have a bowl, you never know quite what to make of the wicket, so it’s better to chase. We haven’t played to our potential, so we are trying to hit our potential. We also had a few injuries. The team has been great, they have been honest that they haven’t been at their best. Travis Head misses out, and also Unadkat misses out for personal reasons.”

Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant said during the toss, “We don’t mind, we have got to do well. We are looking at one match at a time and not putting undue pressure on ourselves. I feel that as a team, we have regrouped well, and we are in a good space as a team. We have only one change, Will O’Rourke is making his debut.”

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Kamindu Mendis, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Harsh Dubey, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga

SRH Impact Subs: Mohammad Shami, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Abhinav Manohar, Simarjeet Singh.

Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Digvesh Singh Rathi, William O’Rourke.

LSG Impact Subs: Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahamad, M Siddharth, Shardul Thakur, David Miller. (ANI)