OPENING ONSLAUGHT
Riding on Jonny Bairstow and captain David Warner, Sunrisers beats Kings XI to earn its third league win
DUBAI: Sunrisers Hyderabad overcame a ferocious six-hitting onslaught from Kings XI Punjab’s Nicholas Pooran to record a 69-run win in the Indian Premier League here on Thursday. Required to chase 202, the Kings XI was bowled out for 132. By virtue of this impressive win, the Sunrisers reached third on the points table with three wins from six matches, while the Punjab outfit remained rooted to the bottom with just a solitary win and five losses.
Set to chase a daunting 202, the Kings XI received an early jolt losing the in-form Mayank Agarwal 9 (6b, 1x4) through a terrible mix-up involving his captain KL Rahul in just the second over. P Simran Singh, playing his first match this season, impressed during his brief stay in the middle striking two boundaries before getting out to Khaleel Ahmed for 11 (8b, 2x4).
The Kings’ captain Rahul endured a miserable stay as he ate up too many dot balls without threatening to hit any boundaries in the Powerplay. Kings XI was at 45 for two after six overs and soon after Rahul perished to the young left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma for 11 (16b). The stage was set for Pooran to come into his own and he showed he was equal to the challenge of flexing his batting muscles to clobber the ball to different parts of the ground. He reached the fastest 50 of this IPL off only 17 balls in the ninth over bowled by Abdul Samad. In the same over, Pooran smashed the hapless Samad for 28 runs that included a whopping four sixes and one four. At the other end, Glenn Maxwell struggled to rotate the strike and was eventually run-out for 7 (12b).
That was followed by a procession of wickets as Rashid Khan removed Mandeep Singh in the 13th over and in the next over Mujeeb Ur Rahman, promoted up the order, was caught behind off Khaleel. With the pressure mounting and left to wage a lone battle, Pooran fell to Rashid after a highly entertaining knock of 77 (37b, 5x4, 7x6).
Earlier, a 160-run opening stand between Jonny Bairstow and David Warner took Sunrisers to an imposing 201 for six.
Bairstow smashed 97 off just 55 balls -- during which he hit seven fours and six sixes -- while Warner made 52 off 40 balls as KXIP bowlers did not have a clue how to get a breakthrough till the 15th over. At that stage, SRH was 160 for no loss.
BRIEF SCORES: Sunrisers Hyderabad 201/6 in 20 overs (J Bairstow 97, D Warner 52) bt Kings XI Punjab 132 in 16.5 overs
(N Pooran 77, R Khan 3/12)