On the back of brilliant 104 not out from Chris Gayle, Kings XI Punjab handed Sunrisers Hyderabad their first defeat of VIVO IPL 2018 in the 16th match played at IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali just a few moments ago.
Kings XI Punjab captain R Ashwin won the toss and elected to bat first. Gayle scored 104* and helped the hosts to post 193. While chasing, Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey contributed but could not help SRH to register their 4th win.
Ravichandran Ashwin changed the trend by winning the toss and elected to bat first. Chris Gayle showed his aggressive intent while KL Rahul struggled to score runs quickly. At the end of first 6 overs, Kings XI Punjab posted 49 runs. Rashid Khan dismissed KL Rahul for 18 runs. Gayle was in the severe hitting mood and reached his half-century off 39 balls.
VIDEO: Watch 11 sixes from the Universe Boss against Sunrisers Hyderabad
Mayank Agarwal also scored quick fire 18 off 9 balls. Chris Gayle smashed the world number 1 bowler for 4 successive sixes to put pressure Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers. Karun Nair and Gayle added 85 runs for the 3rd wicket. Gayle scored his 6th IPL century and the 1st century of IPL 2018 off 58 balls. Aaron Finch scored 14 off 6 balls.
Chris Gayle hit 11 sixes and 1 four in his brilliant knock of 104 not out. Kings XI Punjab owner Preity Zinta bought her for RS 2 Crore. He has played 2 matches in the tournament and scored 167 runs.
Rashid Khan went for 55 runs from 4 overs and took 1 wicket. Chris Gayle remained not out on 104 off 63 balls.
Chasing 194, Wriddhiman Saha and Shikhar Dhawan came to open the innings. Dhawan played one ball and had to retire hurt. Saha was dismissed by Mohit Sharma for 6 runs. Yusuf Pathan showed positive intent scoring 19 runs off 13 balls. At the end of 6 overs, SRH scored 40 runs for 2 wickets.
After the power play overs, Captain Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey steadied the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings. Pandey struggled to time the ball while Williamson showed his class with the bat. Kane Williamson reached his half-century off 39 balls. Both Williamson and Pandey added 76 for the 3rd wicket before Williamson departed for 54.
Deepak Hooda could not contribute much as he was dismissed 5. Manish Pandey reached his half-century off 37 balls. Shakib AL Hasan hit big shots off Ashwin bowling and remained not out on 24 off 12 balls. SRH scored 178 for 4 in 20 overs. Kings XI Punjab won the match by 15 runs.
Kings XI Punjab 193 for 3 in 20 overs ( Chris Gayle 104*, Karun Nair 31, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/25) beat
SRH 178 for 4 in 20 overs ( Manish Pandey 57*, Kane Williamson 54, Andrew Tye 2/23, Mohit Sharma 2/51) by 15 runs.
SRH captain Kane Williamson said: Hats off to Chris Gayle. We can learn things from the way they bowled on this pitch. The wicket was good to bat on. Kings XI Punjab bowled short. Our loss today was not because of lack of effort.
Kings XI Punjab captain R Ashwin said: It was a complete performance. Chris Gayle produced a brilliant display and entertained the crowd with his power-hitting. The bowlers also performed well but should have conceded 10 runs lesser because of net run rate situation could happen at the end.
Man of the match Chris Gayle said: Whichever franchises I play all over the world, I am determined to score big runs and help the team to win matches. I am happy to get my 100 here today. The wicket was good to bat on and want to enjoy my cricket.
It was Sunrisers Hyderabad first loss in 4 matches.
Chennai Super Kings XI will face Rajasthan Royals in tomorrow”s match at CSK new home ground, Pune.
