IPL 2018: Match 25, SRH vs KXIP, Review - Disciplined bowling leads Sunrisers to a 14-run victory

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have once again defended the low total and this time it was against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). The score of 132 while batting first never looked enough but the champion bowlers of the Orange army made it look like a huge one. Once the openers of the Kings XI were dismissed, it was all one-way traffic and they won the game easily by 14 runs. However, the visitors were themselves to blame as they were poor with the bat and in the field.

R Ashwin had no hesitation in bowling first after winning the toss as Chris Gayle returned to the side for them at the expense of David Miller. The hosts didn’t make any changes to their playing XI which defended the lowest total of the season a couple of days ago. They continued to rest Bhuvneshwar Kumar who is struggling with his back these days.

Rajpoot weaves his magic

Kings XI have continued to back the speedster Ankit Rajpoot and the youngster has come to the party by improving with every game. The extra bounce in the surface helped him as he dismissed the openers Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan in two successive overs. While the short ball with a hint of movement outside off proved to be the former’s undoing, he swung it across Dhawan by pitching it short of a length and hand him caught in the slips.

Rajpoot was given an extra over by his skipper and he responded again by sending back Wriddhiman Saha who tried to slog the slower ball. He would’ve had Manish Pandey in the same over only for Andrew Tye to drop an easy catch. But the youngster came back in the final over and bowled it beautifully to concede only 6 runs and scalped Pandey and Mohammed Nabi to complete the first five-wicket haul of this season. His figures after the innings read 5/14 which were extraordinary.

Meanwhile, Manish Pandey was lucky to survive almost 4 times thanks to the lacklustre fielding from the visitors. He took full toll of the let-offs to score a half-century but there was no momentum to his knock. He was supported well by Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan as the SRH crawled to 132 runs for the loss of 6 wickets after their 20 overs.

Decent start to the chase

Kings XI needed a decent start with the bat as only the bowling attack of SRH had the ability to defend the total of 132. The opening pair of the tournament so far was least worried though as Chris Gayle and KL Rahul once again added 55 runs. But the hosts bowled well to keep them considerably quite. They had come out with a plan again the big man even as Rahul played some delightful strokes. Gayle too tried his best and smacked a couple of balls.

Rashid Khan’s introduction into the attack changed the complexion of the game as he castled the stylish Rahul with the one which straightened. Soon Basil Thampi bowled a pacy delivery into the ribs of Gayle as he top-edged the ball only for the bowler to take the catch himself and SRH made comeback in the game.

Sensational collapse

The wickets of the openers gave an opening to the home side as they pounced on the opposition sensationally. Rashid Khan led the way for them with his clever variations and scalped the key wickets of Karun Nair and the skipper Ashwin. From the other end, other bowlers too came to the party and the visitors collapsed from being 55/0 to 101/9 with the SRH favourites to win the game.

Though the last wicket pair of Mujeeb Zadran and the hero with the ball Rajpoot took the game deep. The former was impressive as he smashed a couple of reverse sweeps asking for promotion in the batting order. In the end, it all went down to the last over with as the Kings XI needed 15 to win with Basil Thampi being entrusted with the responsibility. He didn’t disappoint and bowled a pacy yorker to Rajpoot to castle his stumps and seal the deal for his team by 14 runs.

The visitors were left wondering as they had blown away a chance to win the game easily in the field by dropping the catches. The batsmen too were poor as they threw their wickets away. Sunrisers, on the other hand, were excellent again with the ball as they defended yet another low total and now tipped KXIP to climb to the second position in the points table

Brief Scores

Sunrisers Hyderabad 132/6 after 20 overs (M Pandey 54; A Rajpoot 5/14, M Rahman 1/17)

Kings XI Punjab 118 after 19.2 overs (KL Rahul 32; R Khan 3/19, B Thampi 2/14)

Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 14 runs

Man of the Match: Ankit Rajpoot

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