Sunrisers Hyderabad looked in control at 110/3 in the 15th over. Klaasen was middling everything, Nitish Kumar Reddy was breathing fire at the other end. But Harsh Dubey's 17th over changed everything. Two dot balls, then a caught-behind off a length delivery that cramped Klaasen. The flow broke. Suddenly, SRH were scrambling, losing momentum when they needed to accelerate hardest. 156 felt short the moment Klaasen walked back.

Lucknow knew they had a sniff. Rishabh Pant walked in at number three with clarity — he wasn't chasing dots, he was chasing intent. Against short-pitched stuff from Dale Steyn's replacement, Pant struck three fours in the powerplay phase (overs 1-6), setting the tone instantly. That early aggression shifted the equation. LSG weren't hunting; they were on terms.

The real turning point came in the 18th over. Reddy bowled a full length delivery that Aiden Markram slapped for six over cover. Markram's 27-ball 45 kept the required rate manageable. When Pant finished with a boundary off the final ball, LSG had already won the mental battle two overs prior. Klaasen's dismissal cost SRH 15-20 runs in the death phase. That gap proved decisive.