Photo: SPORTZPICS

A brilliant knock by David Warner coupled with a solid bowling performance by Rashid Khan meant that it was the hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad who ended up victorious against Kings XI Punjab, despite a fighting knock by KL Rahul.

KXIP won the toss and chose to bowl first on a good batting surface in Hyderabad. Sunrisers though immediately made them regret that decision as they got off to a good start in the powerplay overs. Both of Kings XI Punjab’s opening bowlers, Arshdeep Singh and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, proved to be expensive as the hosts forged a fifty-run partnership within the first four overs.

Wriddhiman Saha was looking solid, having scored a brisk 28 off just 13 deliveries; but Murugan Ashwin came into bowl the 7^th over and immediately dismissed the wicketkeeper. The wicket temporarily quelled the batting side’s scoring rate, with new man Manish Pandey taking a couple of overs to settle in.

However, the SRH batters kept finding the gaps and scoring boundaries to keep the run rate at 10 an over. Warner began playing his aggressive brand of cricket, getting his eighth fifty of the 2019 VIVO Indian Premier League in the 12^th over as the hosts continued their dominance with the bat.

A few overs later though, Ravichandran Ashwin who was bowling his last over managed to break the partnership by dismissing Pandey for 36. The skipper struck again four balls later, this time getting the prized wicket of Warner as the score 163/3.

The hosts however got back the momentum with new batsman Mohammad Nabi hitting two sixes off his countryman Mujeeb’s bowling and taking the score to 195 after 18 overs. Mohammed Shami got the Shers back into the contest next over by picking up both Nabi and Kane Williamson while conceding just seven runs. Arshdeep Singh followed that up with a tidy last over as the Shers dragged the SRH scoring down a little in the final few overs as they ended at 212/6 after 20 overs.

In reply, KXIP lost their southpaw opener Chris Gayle cheaply, with the score reading 21/1 after three. Owing to that early wicket, batsmen KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal cautiously played out the rest of the powerplay, without taking any untoward risks. The duo kept the scoreboard ticking while punishing the bad balls, as they stitched together a 50-run partnership by the eighth over.

However, Khan managed to break the partnership soon after as Agarwal mistimed his shot and was caught in the deep. New man Nicholas Pooran though started attacking right from the get go, scoring two fours and a six off Khaleel Ahmed’s over; but a brilliant diving catch by Bhuvneshwar Kumar meant he had to head back to the pavilion.

The wicket created pressure on the Shers’ batsmen; and Khan yet again proved to be their bane as he picked back to back wickets of David Miller and Ashwin to leave the score at 107/5 after 13. Those two wickets meant that SRH were at the ascendency going into the last seven overs as the visitors needed in excess of a hundred runs with just five wickets in hand.

KL Rahul gave it his all as he went for that improbable chase, scoring four sixes and a boundary off the next few overs, before ultimately miscuing one off Ahmed’s bowling in the second last over. The 27-year-old’s wicket all but ended the KXIP chase as they ended their innings at a 166/8 after 20 overs, falling short by 45 runs.