David Warner’s side Sunrisers Hyderabad looked in sublime touch as they came out all guns blazing against a low in confidence Kings XI Punjab in the 22nd game of this year’s IPL. SRH batted first, and put the foot on the pedal straightaway and tonked the Punjab bowlers around. Both Warner and Bairstow made viewers reminiscent of their partnership against Bangalore last year where they both got magnificent 100s. This time around, they couldn’t get to triple figures, but made sure they left a massive dent early on. Half chances didn’t quite go Punjab’s way. Both openers put on a mammoth 160 for the first wicket when Johnny Bairstow fell three short of a well deserved century.
Ravi Bishnoi then put on the breaks a little as he went on to dismiss Warner and Samad in quick succession. A couple of wickets courtesy Arshdeep Singh sort of pulled things back until Williamson and Abhishek Sharma gave SRH a finishing touch and set KXIP a target of 202. KXIP in response looked like they were headed nowhere as they not only lost key wickets up top, but also couldn’t get the scorecard ticking. It was only after Nicholas Pooran took charge that the match was put back in balance. His swashbuckling 50 off just 17 deliveries was nothing short of electrifying. 5 Fours and 7 big sixes ensured that he recorded this year’s fastest IPL fifty.
But all that was to no avail as SRH kept chipping away at Punjab’s line up, Rashid Khan being the pick of the bowlers with incredible figures of 3/12. The Men in Orange put the final nail in the coffin as David Warner caught Arshdeep Singh at short covers, thereby bowling Punjab out. A dejected Punjab will now have to go back to the drawing board and pick themselves up from the dust as they lay at the bottom of the table. On the other hand, things are looking to get better for their counterpart as the Orange Army climb up to 3rd in the standings.
-Vibhor Dubey
KL Rahul of KXIP looks disappointed after a half chance of Johnny Bairstow goes begging.
The Average Cricketer 