Short Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 121/1 (Jonny Bairstow 63 *, David Warner 37; Fabian Allen 1/22) beat Punjab Kings 120 all out (Shahrukh Khan 22, Mayank Agarwal 22; Khaleel Ahmed 3/21) by 9 wickets.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) claimed their first win of the season after beating the Punjab Kings (PBKS) comprehensively in Match 14 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at M. A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai yesterday.
Jonny Bairstow scored at the top with the bat and successfully led the SRH race after PBKS were bundled for 120 thanks to Khaleel Ahmed’s impressive figures of 3/21.
In pursuit of a target of 121, openers David Warner and Bairstow got the innings off to a solid start.
PBKS started early with spinner Fabian Allen, who was hit for four and six by Bairstow in the second over.
Right wing Mohammad Shami then flicked for four in the next game before Warner played the cut off the sailor to produce the same result.
Moises Henriques was generally greeted by Bairstow, who took full advantage of the lacquer. Warner scored 10 runs off Arshdeep Singh in the sixth over to grab the fifty partnership for the opening wicket and SRH was 50/0 at the end of the powerplay.
The opening duo played a couple of silent pelts bowled by PBKS spinners, who surrendered just 16 runs in the next three overs.
Warner struck his first six of the inning against Deepak Hooda over extra cover and SRH was 73 for no loss at the end of 10 overs.
PBKS finally found its first breakthrough after Allen got rid of the SRH skipper, who went out deep in the 11th who was a wicketkeeper.
Kane Williamson, who joined Bairstow in the middle, continued to rotate the strike with the opener. Although the boundaries did not come off the bat, the required run rate was less than six for SRH.
The 100 for SRH was in the 16th over and they were closing in on target comfortably without having to venture.
Murugan Ahswin continued bowling tight ends conceding just four runs in the 17th.
Bairstow picked up his fifty in style with Hooda four off and hit Arshdeep further for a max with a clean strike as SRH chased the 19th over for a win with eight balls to spare.
Earlier, PBKS decided to bat first on Chennai’s dry surface and made two changes as Allen and Henriques made their PBKS debut.
Agarwal, who opened alongside PBKS sprinter KL Rahul, got an early life after Rashid Khan dropped a right-handed catch in the depths in the first over as the PBKS started off guard.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit an early SRH and bagged an important KL Rahul wicket, which was trapped inside the ring.
Agarwal and Chris Gayle managed to get PBKS to 32/1, scoring below isx runs over at the end of the powerplay as Bhuvneshwar bowled three overs on the trot, inside the powerplay. Agarwal fell right after the powerplay, in a similar fashion to KL Rahul after Rashid grabbed a sharp catch in the middle of the wicket and compensated for his earlier fall.
PBKS lost yet another wicket to an outstanding pitch from SRH after a direct hit from Warner ran Nicholas Pooran out. The left wing was dismissed without facing delivery.
Things went from bad to worse for PBKS after Gayle was caught ahead of him by Rashid, reducing them 53/4 at the end of the 10-over mark.
Shahrukh Khan and Moises Henriques added 19 runs between them. But Abhishek Sharma ended the partnership picking up his second wicket of the pubs after Henriques was stumped trying to clear the ropes.
PBKS crossed the 100-run mark in the 17th over and Shahrukh added some vital runs to the total but SRH opted for their seventh wicket of the fly-half after Allen dismissed Warner, on extra cover, who took athletic hold.
In the last but one, Shahrukh tried to go big against Khaleel but was caught in the depths by Abhishek, who completed a simple catch. PBKS lost their last two wickets in the 20th over and were bundled at 120. Murugan Ashwin first grabbed the keeper off Siddarth Kaul bowling and then Shami was run out on the last delivery of the pubs.