On Thursday night, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered their first defeat in this IPL season after losing against the hosts Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 15 runs at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium (Mohali, Chandigarh).

KXIP captain Ravichandran Ashwin won the toss and decided to bat first. KXIP put a total of 193/3 at the end of 20 overs which SRH failed to chase as they were restricted for 178/4 in 20 overs.

Now, we will briefly talk about some important reasons for SRH’s defeat in this game.

Chris Gayle’s knock

When Chris Gayle stands on the pitch for a long time, it always gives pain to the opponent team. KXIP opener Chris Gayle was not out at the end of the innings after scoring 104 runs off 63 balls. The left-handed Caribbean batsman single-handedly built up that innings and set for a good total. And more importantly, Gayle hardly gave any chance the SRH bowlers to dismiss him.

Game-changing third-wicket partnership between Chris Gayle and Karun Nair     

While Gayle was totally set on the crease, Karun Nair joined him as KXIP was 83/2 in 10.2 overs. In that crucial time, Gayle-Nair’s third-wicket partnership hugely changed the momentum of the game as they put a superb attacking 85-run partnership in 44 balls. It secured a good total for the host team.

An unfamiliar off-day for Rashid Khan                      

Rashid Khan, one of the most consistent bowlers in the top-class cricket, was surprisingly too expensive in this game. It was the off-day for SRH leg-spinner Rashid Khan who had the bowling figure 4-0-55-1.

His devastated moment was conceding total 27 runs in his third over where Gayle hit four consecutive sixes in that over.

Shikhar Dhawan’s retired-hurt

Chasing a big target like 194 runs, SRH needed a good start and that’s why the team was hugely depending on in-form batsman Shikhar Dhawan’s knock. But, he got a big hit with the ball on his left elbow in the very first over of that innings. That forced him to retire-hurt as his scoreboard was reading 0 (1). It was a huge blow for the team as they couldn’t get over it.

Set batsmen failed to increase the gear

While SRH captain Kane Williamson and middle-order batsman Manish Pandey were set on the crease, both couldn’t succeed to increase their gears which were very important for chasing a large target. Williamson scored 54 runs off 41 balls while Pandey was unbeaten on 57 runs off 42 balls.

Later, Shakib Al Hasan (24 runs off 12 balls) tried hard to change the game scenario with his blistering knock but that was too late for the team.