Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins (R) during a practice session ahead of IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal, in Hyderabad. (PTI)

Hyderabad: Well begun is half the job done, they say, and Sunrisers Hyderabad have reason to be happy with their start to the IPL season. SRH’s 44-run over Rajasthan Royals will make their next opponents, Lucknow Super Giants, wary of the firepower in the hosts’ ranks when they clash here.
Last season runners-up sent a strong message to their opponents early in the season, posting the league’s second-highest total — 286/6 — against Royals.
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Come Thursday, the hosts are unlikely to tinker with their game plan of an all-out attack and relentless intensity, raising the prospects of becoming the first team to make 300 runs in an innings in IPL.
Of the 119 sixes struck in the first five matches, 30 came from the SRH-RR game. And the hosts will relish the prospect of tucking into the LSG attack missing its frontline bowlers as Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, and Akash Deep are out, injured.

It is learnt that Avesh has been cleared to return, but it remains to be seen how he copes on return in his first match since Jan. Especially against the Sunrisers’ top order with Ishan Kishan, Travis Head, and Abhishek Sharma in red-hot form. Returning from an injury-enforced break, Nitish Kumar Reddy showed no sign of discomfort during his 15-ball 30, and with Heinrich Klaasen to follow, the LSG attack has reason to worry.
Shardul Thakur bowled just two overs in Visakhapatnam and was inexplicably ignored at the death. Spinners Manimaran Siddharth and Digvesh Rathi upstaged senior pro Ravi Bishnoi as Ashutosh Sharma ran away with the game for Delhi Capitals.