The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) are locking horns with each other and looking for a much-need win at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. After winning the toss, the KXIP skipper, R Ashwin decided to bowl first and his decision cost him a lot as they lost the game by a huge margin of 45 runs.
During the toss, the SRH skipper, Kane Williamson revealed that they have made three changes in the squad as Deepak Hooda, Siddharth Kaul, and Shakib Al Hasan made way for, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Sharma, and Mohammad Nabi. On the other hand, KXIP also made three changes as Hardus Viljoen, Mandeep Singh, and Ankit Rajpoot made way for Mujeeb ur Rahman, Prabhsimran Singh, and Arshdeep Singh.
Crucial partnership
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For a change, Wriddhiman Saha came to open the innings for SRH along with the in-form David Warner. Both of them started to smash the KXIP bowlers from the word go. However, after scoring as many as 77 runs in first six overs Saha was dismissed by Murugan Ashwin in the 7th over. After his dismissal, Warner started building a partnership with Manish Pandey and they added as many as 82 runs for the 2nd wicket before both of them getting out in the 16th over of R Ashwin.
WATCH – Chris Gayle Kicked The Ball Into The Boundary
Despite the wickets of set batsmen, Williamson and Nabi kept on smashing Punjab as they added as many as 34 runs for the 4th wicket before the latter getting out in the 19th over of Mohammed Shami owing to a brilliant catch by M Ashwin. Eventually, they reached a total of 212/6 in their quota of 20 overs.
No partner for Rahul
During the chase, KXIP lost the ‘Univers Boss’, Chris Gayle in the 3rd over itself off the bowling of Khaleel Ahmed. After his dismissal, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal added as many as 60 runs for the third wicket before the latter getting out in the 9th over of Rashid Khan.
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Then, Rahul paired up with Nicholas Pooran to add just 25 runs for the 3rd wicket as Pooran got out in the 11th over of Khaleel owing to a brilliant catch from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Despite Rahul another half-century, KXIP failed to chase down the humongous total as they eventually lost the game by 45 runs. Rahul never got the apt support as wicket kept falling from the other end. Now, they need to win every match to qualify for the playoffs.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad – 212/6 in 20 overs (D Warner: 81, M Pandey: 36; R Ashwin: 2/30) defeated Kings XI Punjab – 167/8 in 20 overs (KL Rahul: 79′; R Khan: 3/21, K Ahmed: 3/40) by 45 runs
