India, April 5 -- Sunrisers Hyderabad did not just run into a good opening spell against Lucknow Super Giants. They ran into a decision they had made themselves months earlier. Mohammed Shami, traded by SRH to LSG ahead of IPL 2026, returned to Hyderabad and produced the kind of new-ball burst Sunrisers had hoped they were buying when they signed him for Rs.10 crore before the 2025 season. This time, though, he did it in LSG colours, and against SRH on their own ground.

The bare numbers were damaging enough. Shami completed his four overs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium with 2 for 9 and an economy rate of 2.25. He removed Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, two wickets that helped reduce SRH to 8 for 2 and then fed into a larger c...