The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers showed their class again by defending 133 in the 25th match of VIVO IPL at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad just a few moments ago. KXIP captain R Ashwin won the toss and elected to field first. Good bowling by Kings XI Punjab bowlers kept SRH to just 132. Chasing the modest target of 133, Gayle and KL Rahul started well but lost wickets at regular intervals to defend another low total.
Kings XI Punjab Ravichandran Ashwin won the toss and elected to field first. Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a poor start losing the wicket of Captain Kane Williamson by Ankit Rajpoot in the very first over. The other opener Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed cheaply for 11 runs, soon after Wriddhiman Saha could not contribute much.
At the end of 6 overs, Sunrisers Hyderabad posted just 37 for 3. Manish Pandey and Shakib AL Hasan steadied the innings with a slow partnership for 4th wicket. Both of them added 52 runs for the 4th wicket as AL Hasan was dismissed for 28 runs. Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan put up another good partnership for the 5th wicket. Pandey reached his half-century off 48 balls while Pathan made 21 runs off 19 balls. Both Pandey and Pathan added 49 runs for the 5th wicket.
Ankit Rajpoot bowled with good pace and aggression restricting the Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen taking 5 wickets giving away just 14 runs. Kings XI Punjab restricted SRH to just 132 runs for 6.
Chasing 133, Kings XI Punjab openers Chris Gayle and KL Rahul began on a steady note. At the end of 6 overs, both openers scored 44 runs.
After the powerplay overs, it was good going for both openers. Rashid Khan got the breakthrough dismissing KL Rahul for 32. Both Chris Gayle and KL Rahul added 55 runs for the first wicket. Basil Thampi got the big wicket of Chris Gayle for 23 off 22 balls.
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers did not allow Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair to score runs easily. Shakib AL Hasan dismissed Mayank Agarwal for 12 runs. Rashid Khan dismissed Karun Nair for 13 runs as Kings XI Punjab were reduced to 82 for 4. In the next over, Shakib AL Hasan dismissed dangerous Aaron Finch for 8 runs.
Sandeep Sharma got the wicket of Manoj Tiwary for 1 run to push Kings XI Punjab into trouble at 92 for 6. In the same over, Sandeep Sharma dismissed Andrew Tye. Sran was also run out for 2 runs to leave Kings XI Punjab at 100 for 8.
Rashid Khan dismissed Kings XI Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin for 4 runs. Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ankit Rajpoot added 18 runs for the 10th wicket. Basil Thampi dismissed Ankit Rajpoot for 8 runs to give Sunrisers Hyderabad a famous 13 runs victory.
For Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rashid Khan took 3 wickets while Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, Shakib AL Hasan took 2 wickets each. Kings XI Punjab was bowled out for 119 in 19.2 overs.
SRH 132 for 6 in 20 overs ( Manish Pandey 54, Shakib AL Hasan 28, Yusuf Pathan 21, Ankit Rajpoot 5/14) beat
KXIP 119 in 19.2 overs ( KL Rahul 32, Chris Gayle 23, Rashid Khan 3/19, Sandeep Sharma 2/17, Basil Thampi 2/14) by 13 runs.
KXIP captain R Ashwin said: The bowlers did a great job to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to just 132. Fielding was not up to the mark as we dropped many catches in the field. We gave away 20-25 runs more. It was a tough wicket to bat on as the wicket was sticky. Rashid Khan bowled brilliantly and did not allow easy runs for us.
SRH captain Kane Williamson said: Another great bowling performance by our bowlers. The batsmen could not score many runs. It was a tough wicket to bat on with the ball spinning and also helpful for the fast bowlers. The win was special after we defended 119 runs against Mumbai Indians. The bowlers are doing a great job, but the batsmen need to score big runs.
Man of the match Ankit Rajpoot: The wicket was offering help for the fast bowlers and I used my variations to trouble the SRH batsmen. Despite restricting SRH to 132, KL Rahul and Gayle gave us a good start putting on 55 runs for the first wicket. It was my day today, got a fifer.
Last time they met in this tournament, Chris Gayle hit the century and helped Kings XI Punjab win the match by 15 runs. SRH have now 10 points from 7 games.
Delhi Daredevils will face Kolkata Knight Riders in tomorrow’s match at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi.