Twitter Reactions: Sunrisers Hyderabad break their rut with a thumping win over Punjab Kings

Sunrisers Hyderabad finally halted a three-match losing rut courtesy of dominating team performance against Punjab Kings.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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Sunrisers Hyderabad
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Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Sunrisers Hyderabad finally halted a three-match losing rut courtesy of a dominating team performance against Punjab Kings. Khaleel Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma picked five amongst them, while in another frugal spell, Rashid Khan finished with 1/17 to reduce the opponents for an underwhelming 120, which they chased with 9 wickets in hands to open their account in 2021.

Winning the toss and doing the “obvious”, KL Rahul opted to bat first as he named three inclusion in Fabien Allen, Moises Henriques, and Murugan Ashwin, who came in for Riley Meredith, Jhye Richardson, and Jajal Saxena. Sunrisers Hyderabad, who made as many changes, slotting in the Kane Williamson alongside Kedar Jadhav, made early inroads to dent the Kings’ momentum right from the onset.

Opening the bowling, Abhishek Sharma would have had his man in the opening over, although Rashid Khan failed to grab a chance at deep-midwicket to give Mayank Agarwal a life early in his innings. Having gotten off to a sedate start, things went on a downhill ever since Bhuvneshwar Kumar got KL Rahul caught cheaply at midwicket to make a perfect start for his side.

Khaleel Ahmed, Abhishek Sharma skittle Punjab to 120

After a conservative start, Punjab was pushed further behind, losing Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, and Chris Gayle in back-to-back overs. Not missing the second chance that came his way, Rashid grabbed Agarwal for a 25-ball 22 in the same region off Khaleel Ahmed, while Pooran, who was promoted at number 4, found himself miles out of his crease, to be dismissed run-out for a duck by Warner without even facing a ball.

Deepak Hooda, the new man, showed some intent as he picked a boundary immediately after he came apart from reverse-sweeping Rashid to send him to the fine leg boundary. But when it seemed that he might show the path to the Kings’ lost ship, an arm ball from Sharma pinned him straight on the front only a couple of overs after Gayle, who labored his way to 15 off 17 deliveries, was trapped lbw by Rashid.

Abhishek returned to account for Moises Henriques, foxing him with a flighted delivery to get him stumped, whereas Fabien Allen holed out to extra cover off Ahmed to crush any hopes of a late charge that the team would have expected from him. A couple of meaty blows from Shahrukh Khan, who got 22 off 17 before depositing Ahmed into the hands of midwicket, pushed the Kings past 100, while Siddharth Kaul opened his account in the final over, getting M Ashwin caught behind. Given the mess Punjab made after winning the toss, it was Sunrisers’ game to lose.

Warner, Bairstow’s steady start seal it for SRH

After plenty of drama in their previous two games, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow ensured that they did most of the job for the team to break their uncharacteristic streak of losses. The skipper got himself going with a crisp slap past point off Mohammad Shami in the opening over, while Bairstow whacked Fabien Allen for a maximum over long-on to pick 11 off his first over. The Kings got an early opportunity when Allen could have caught Warner short of his ground, although he missed a direct hit.

The skipper made them regret immediately, hitting a boundary off Shami only a couple of deliveries later. By the end of the powerplay, their stand had swollen to 50. The duo flourished, scoring runs at an easy pace until the 11th over, when Warned holed out to Agarwal in the deep off Allen to walk back with a run-a-ball 37. At three, Kane Williamson continued milking singles and doubles after the 73-run opening stand was broken.

Allen, Hooda, and Ashwin did pull back things to an extent, not conceding even a single boundary for seven overs after Warner’s exit, however, chasing run-a-ball meant that SRH could have taken their time. Bairstow broke the shackles in the 18th over, smacking Hooda for a boundary to bring up his fifty off 48 balls, and followed with a six over the long-off fence off Arshdeep before a wide sealed them a thumping win.

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