Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) has found their mojo back towards the business end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. After gunning down the top three teams in the table, KXIP pulled off a heist like a win over Surisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday. KXIP bowlers, especially, Arshdeep Singh, and Chris Jordan defended the lowest total of the season, 126, and rather managed to win the game by 12 runs. SRH failed to get over the line despite needing just 30 runs off the last five overs to lose seven wickets for just 14 runs.
Earlier, after losing the toss, KXIP suffered some early blows as they lost KL Rahul’s new opening partner Mandeep Singh in the fifth over itself, so come in the squad to replace the injured Mayank Agarwal. Chris Gayle came out and smacked a six but Jason Holder got the better of him for a run-a-ball 20. However, Rahul was struggling against Rashid Khan and his stumps were shattered on a brilliant googly. Despite having 61 runs on the board after nine overs, KXIP lost all the momentum in the latter half of the innings.
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Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell tried to build a partnership but failed to up the ante as the latter’s poor season continued and wickets kept on falling Punjab and run became invisible. However, Pooran kept one end alive as he was unbeaten during his score of 32 runs. KXIP only managed to register a total of 126 runs on the board as Sandeep Sharma, Rashid, and Jason Holder picked two wickets each for SRH.
SRH was expected to chase down the score of 127 comfortably and their openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow started in the same manner as they added 56 runs in 6.2 overs before Ravi Bishnoi dismissed the SRH skipper. But Warner’s 20-ball 35 laid a perfect platform for the middle-order, still Bairstow and Abdul Samad getting out soon.
Sunrisers were at 67/3 in the ninth over, and again, Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar managed to stop a collapse. They played out the leg-spinners Murugan Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi and Shankar played a few decent strokes with the straight bat to churn boundaries. However, the equation came down to SRH requiring 28 off the last four overs.
WATCH – J Suchith Takes A Brilliant Catch To Send Manish Pandey Back Packing
Pandey then was dismissed by Chris Jordan owing to a mind-boggling catch by Jagadeesha Suchith. From then on, things went from bad worse for Sunrisers as Jordan bowled a sensational penultimate over to send back Holder and Rashid off successive deliveries. SRH needed 14 runs in the last over with Arshdeep Singh, bowling the final over. He completely choked the Sunrisers in the chase as they literally fell 12 runs short after losing their last seven wickets for just 14 runs to hand over the game to the opponents.
Hits
Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan first got the priced wicket of Manish Pandey in the 17th over owing to a brilliant catch by J Suchith, then he bowled an economical penultimate over in which he conceded just three runs and scalped the likes of Rashid Khan and Jason Holder.
Arshdeep Singh
Arshdeep Singh for the opportunity if defending 14 runs in the final over and the kid didn’t disappoint as he conceded just one run in the over and scalped as many as three wickets to help KXIP continue their winning momentum.
Flops
Jonny Bairstow
It’s been the second consecutive game when Jonny Bairstow has failed to deliver when the team needed him. Apart from his fifty against RCB, he has been a disappointment for SRH.
T Natarajan
After bowling match-winning spells against CSK and KKR, T Natarajan has failed to take wickets for SRH. In order to Sunrisers have a chance to reach the playoffs, Natarajan needs to be more consistent, especially after the injury of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
