Sunrisers Hyderabad were cruising at 100/3 in 16 overs, needing just 27 from 24 with 7 wickets in hand. Then, Kings XI Punjab suddenly came to the party and bowled out SRH for 114 to clinch their fourth successive win in the Indian Premier League.
Sunrisers Hyderabad started their chase aggressively with David Warner and Jonny Bairstow putting on 56 for the first wicket in just 6.2 overs but the fall of skipper Warner hit SRH hard.
On a wicket that made playing strokes difficult, KXIP kept the faith till the end and it finally paid off.
For Rahul’s team, Ravi Bishoi (13/1) and Murugan Ashwin (1/27) were brilliant in the middle overs and the pressure of that period made rich dividends later.
They could also thank Chris Jordan, who turned in a player-of-the-match performance, for a thrilling win that kept their hopes of making the playoffs alive.
Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers produced a clinical performance to restrict Kings XI Punjab to a modest 126 for seven.
SRH bowlers responded impressively to their skipper David Warner’’s decision to field first, picking wickets at regular intervals to control the innings.
KXIP Skipper KL Rahul (27), Mandeep Singh (17) and Chris Gayle (20) all got starts but their innings never got going as they failed to grab the momentum.
SRH perfectly planned Gayle’’s dismissal who came at one down. They kept the big-hitting batsman quiet for a long time, consistently bowling wide of the off stump and in the process frustrated him.
Gayle repeatedly tried to force his way out of the shackles but was dismissed by his West Indian teammate Jason Holder (2/27), caught at long-off by Warner with a wide of the stumps delivery in the 10th over.
Rashid Khan (2/14) then went through the defence of captain Rahul in the first ball off the next over as KXIP slumped to 66 for three.
Glenn Maxwell’’s (12) struggle with the bat continued as he too departed soon, holed out to Warner at long-on off Sandeep Sharma (2/29) before Deepak Hooda was stumped by Jonny Bairstow off Rashid.
Boundaries and sixes were hard to come by and KXIP batsmen’’s struggle can be gauged from the fact they failed to find the fence for more than 11 overs, which was finally broken by Nicholas Pooran in the 19th over.
Pooran ended being the top-scorer, making an unbeaten 32 off 28 balls.
(With inputs from PTI)
Watch full highlights of the match below:
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