Mumbai, April 4 : KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda’s fifties propelled Lucknow Super Giants to 169 for 7 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 12 match of Tata IPL at DY Patil Stadium here on Monday. It appeared as Rahul came into his grooves following a rough start to this IPL season. He had gotten a paltry 40 runs in the opening couple of matches, while he was dismissed for a duck against Gujarat Titans in the opener. His fans were relieved to see him getting some runs under his belt. He scored a fantastic 68 off 50 balls, which included 6 boundaries and a six, while Hooda scored 51 off 33 balls with 3 boundaries and as many sixes. This was Rahul’s 28th IPL half-century and Hooda’s fifth. Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson opted to bowl as Lucknow set off to a horrid start, losing three wickets of Quinton de Kock (1), Evin Lewis (1) and Manish Pandey (11), for only 27 runs on board in the powerplay. Finger-spinner Washington Sundar did the maximum damage by removing De Kock and Pandey. However, Rahul and Hooda played intelligently thereon to put on a vital 87-run partnership for the third wicket, bringing Lucknow back into the reckoning. Rahul dropped anchor, while Hooda took risk to accelerate the score, after taking some time to settle in. Once they departed after getting to their fifties, Ayush Badoni (19 off 12, 3x4s) came to the party to give final touches to the innings, before was runout to steal a run in the last ball of the innings. Jason Holder, who is making his debut for Lucknow, scored 8 runs in 3 balls by tonking one six. Krunal Pandya (6) was the 6th wicket to fall. Sundar, Romario Shepherd and T Natarajan, all bagged a brace. BDN RJ