Lightning Boult strikes as Sunrisers see off Kings XI
PACER PUNISHES PUNJAB AFTER WARNER SCORES A HALF-CENTURY
Ahalf-century from David Warner and a deadly spell of bowling by Trent Boult inspired Sunrisers Hyderabad to victory over Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here last night.
Captain Warner top-scored with a 41-ball 58 as Sunrisers posted what looked a modest 150 for six batting first. Ashish Reddy smashed 22 off eight balls towards the end with the help of two last-over sixes, helping his side reach the 150-mark.
Punjab, playing their first home match of the season, were always behind in the chase and were eventually restricted to 130 for nine.
They briefly looked capable of winning as Wriddhiman Saha scored 42 from 33 balls, but once he became Boult’s third victim the game was over as a contest. The New Zealand pacer finished with figures of three for 19 from his four overs.
The win was Hyderabad’s third from seven games and took them up to fifth in the standings, while Kings XI remain bottom of the pile.
Sent into bat, Hyderabad got off to a poor start as Shikhar Dhawan fell to pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson with just 10 runs on the board after Sandeep Sharma bowled a maiden opening over.
Punjab, who dropped veteran Virender Sehwag after a run of poor scores and again left out Glenn Maxwell, ensured the Sunrisers batsmen didn’t get easy runs in this crucial encounter between two struggling teams. Young left-arm spinner Axar Patel was the best bowler for the hosts, returning impressive figures of two for 25, while Johnson picked up two for 39.
Apart from Warner, Moises Henriques (30) and Naman Ojha (28) were the other contributors for the visiting side. Warner found the fence 10 times and cleared it once during his stay in the middle.
He added 46 runs for the second wicket with Hanuma Vihari, while Ojha and Henriques put on 45 for the fourth. Part-time bowler Murali Vijay bowled a tidy three-over spell, conceding just 16 runs. Anureet Singh was also economical as he gave away 27 runs in his full spell, including five runs in the penultimate over.
‘Compromise needed’
Meanwhile, former England coach David Lloyd believes the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) needs to compromise and allow its players to participate in the IPL if they are to have any chance of mastering the Twenty20 format.
“Our biggest problem is that we are busy playing elsewhere while the IPL is on. The tournament is in full flow here and the England team is in the West Indies,” Lloyd was quoted as saying by iplt20.com yesterday.
“We have to find a solution to this situation. Sit all the concerned parties in one room and work out a system that is beneficial to everybody. If we can have a five-week window for the IPL, that would help. But our season spans from April to September and, for that window to be created, it would have to be halved, which is not going to happen.”