Umran and Bhuvi star as SRH win fourth in a row
Fiery Malik snaps up 4/28 while senior pacer claims 3/22 in Sunrisers’ 7-wicket victory over Punjab
NAVI MUMBAI: Sunrisers Hyderabad produced another perfect display with the ball to cruise to a seven-wicket win—their fourth on the trot this Ipl—against Punjab Kings at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday.
It started with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/22) dismissing Kings’ stand-in skipper Shikhar Dhawan (8) in the third over and ended with a fiery maiden over, the last of the innings, bowled by Umran Malik (4/28). The young fast bowler took three wickets and was on a hat-trick while PBKS also lost a fourth following a run out off the last ball. Malik achieved the rare distinction of bowling a final-over maiden in IPL while Kings were 151 all out.
Malik has grown in confidence with each match and it showed in how he bowled on Sunday. He wasn’t affected by Jitesh Sharma (11 off 8 balls) hitting him for two fours in his first over. He bowled a perfect bouncer off the last ball that over to have Sharma caught and bowled.
The next highlights came in the final over. Kings chased runs but Malik was ready. He had Odean Smith (13 off 15b) caught and bowled the second ball of the over, and after a delivery, bowled Rahul Chahar and Vaibhav Arora off successive balls. Arshdeep Singh was run out off the last ball.
Bhuvneshwar was the one who struck early, restricting PBKS with telling blows.
Umran Malik became just the fourth bowler in IPL to bowl a maiden in the 20th over. The others are Irfan Pathan (2008), Lasith Malinga (2009) and Jaydev Unadkat (2017).
Team
GT LSG RCB SRH RR KKR PBKS DC CSK MI
wickets fell in the final over, three to Malik and a run out.
Pld
Won
Lost
Net RR
He removed Dhawan in the third over. With nothing in his range to drive, Dhawan danced down the wicket only to top-edge a short delivery to Marco Jansen at mid-on.
Then came the wickets that
Pts 10 8 8 8 6 6 6 4 2 0
made sure SRH won’t chase a big total.
Liam Livingstone (60-33b, 5x4, 4x6) and Shahrukh Khan (26-28b, 1x4, 2x6) steadied the ship after they reduced to 61/4. Both fell to Bhuvneshwar’s guile, their 49-ball 71 run partnership for the fifth wicket the saving grace in a dismal batting show.
The SRH bowlers kept a check on the power-packed Punjab batters in the middle-overs as well. T Natarajan (1/38) had Prabhsimran Singh (14) caught behind as PBKS scored just 48 runs in the powerplay, continuing their strong bowling in that phase this season.
J Suchith (1/28), playing his second match in place of the injured Washington Sundar, bowled tightly and removed Jonny Bairstow (12-10b).
SRH batsmen made sure they didn’t suffer any hiccups though they lost skipper Kane Williamson (3) early in their chase.
Abhishek Sharma (31 off 25b) and Rahul Tripathi (34 off 22b) raised 48 runs for the second wicket from 31 balls to provide the launchpad while the unbeaten partnership of Aiden Markram (41 off 27b) and Nicholas Pooran (35 off 30b)—75* off 50 balls—for the fourth wicket took them to victory.
Brief scores: PBKS 151 in 20 overs (L Livingstone 60; B Kumar 3/22, U Malik 4/28). SRH 152/3 in 18.5 overs (A Markram 41*, N Pooran 35*).