Watch: Kaviya Maran's Wild Celebration During LSG vs SRH Game Goes Viral

Zee News

Sunrises Hyderabad co-owner Kaviya Maran attended the match between her side and KL Rahul's Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Friday. However, it was not a great day with the bat for SRH as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. As Kaviya did not get enough chances to cheer for her side during their batting but as soon as SRH took their first wicket with the ball, the co-owner was seen jumping in the stands.

Sunrisers Owner Kavya Maran Reaction for Kyle Myers Wicket. _ pic.twitter.com/IoPCc8kTYr

— KaRuN (@KarunakarkarunN) April 7, 2023

During the fifth over of the innings, Fazalhaq Farooqi, the Impact Player of the team, dismissed the dangerous Kyle Mayers with a back-of-a-length delivery that Mayers tried to pull. However, he only managed to hit it straight to Mayank Agarwal at deep mid-wicket. Kaviya, who knew the value of Mayers' wicket, leaped in joy from the stands. Despite some commenting that the celebration was unnecessary as Mayers' wicket was only the first in SRH's defense of a below-par total, others praised Kaviya's passion for the game, regardless of the match situation. Twitterati took notice of the incident and had differing opinions, which were shared on social media.

Kaviya Maran, the daughter of Sun Network owner Kalanithi Maran and co-owner of the T20 League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, has been referred to as the 'mystery girl' of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) due to her passionate support for her team. In the opening match of IPL 2023 against Rajasthan Royals (RR), Kaviya was spotted cheering for SRH from the stands of the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Her popularity has also extended overseas, with a South African cricket fan proposing to her during her team Sunrisers Eastern Cape's match against Paarl Royals at the Boland Park ground in Paarl. The fan was holding a placard that read "KAVYA MARAN, WILL YOU MARRY ME?" along with a heart emoji. While Kaviya's fandom has garnered attention and praise from many, some have criticized the media attention on her and questioned the importance placed on team owners in cricket.

Earlier in the game, left-arm spin all-rounder Krunal Pandya starred with a three-fer as Lucknow Super Giants restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to a modest 121/8 on a sluggish black-soil pitch. Krunal was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers for Lucknow, constantly attacking the stumps to pick a tidy 3-18 in his four overs. Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra took 2-23 while Ravi Bishnoi and Yash Thakur chipped in with a scalp each.

Lucknow drew first blood in the third over as Mayank Agarwal went for an uppish drive against Krunal, but he was undone by the flight and ended up giving a tame chip to cover. Anmolpreet Singh got some boundaries against spinners as well as Thakur with a lovely punch, sweep and chip over mid-off. Though Anmolpreet survived an lbw appeal off Thakur in the final over of Power-play, he didn't have the same luck in the eighth over as Krunal trapped him lbw with a flatter and quicker delivery on stumps going past the bat to hit the back pad.

On the very next ball, Pandya's tossed-up delivery kept low and skidded past Aiden Markram's bat to rattle his off-stump, sending the SRH skipper back for a golden duck. Bishnoi entered the wicket-takers column by setting up Harry Brook with three consecutive quick googlies before the leg-break was slipped in to beat an advancing Brook on the outside edge and have him stumped easily.

Rahul Tripathi and Washington Sundar went on the defensive to stitch a 39-run partnership off 50 balls. Tripathi got some boundaries through the off-side, including off a reverse sweep, to give the score a push. But in a bid to ramp off Thakur in the 18th over, Tripathi was caught by Mishra at short third man, diving full length to his left to grab a stunning catch with both hands. In the next over, Mishra had Sundar and Adil Rashid holing out to long-on and long-off respectively.

It took Abdul Samad's cameo of 21 off 10 balls, including two sixes off Jaydev Unadkat in the final over, to help SRH cross 120-mark on a slow and low pitch.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 121/8 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathi 34, Anmolpreet Singh 31; Krunal Pandya 3-18, Amit Mishra 2-23) against Lucknow Super Giants