Published: Apr 28, 2015, 12:33 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 28, 2015, 12:33 AM (IST)
If there is any team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), who can defend a target of 151 it’s got to be Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). They have a formidable bowling attack and they lived upto the mark to defend a mere target of 151. No stone was left unturned when SRH stepped on the field.
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) won the toss and elected to field first, they did reasonably well to restrict SRH to a chase able score of 150. David Warner came out hard and got the ball rolling from the outset of the innings. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals but somehow managed to score a decent score of 150 from their 20 overs.
With the likes of George Bailey, Shaun Marsh, David Miller and Murali Vijay render batting a joy to behold. A target of 151 would have been chased down in less than 20 overs but it wasn’t to be. KXIP got off to disastrous start and lost two wickets in quick succession, courtesy some exceptional bowling from Trent Boult and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Both starred with the ball and ensured that KXIP never made a comeback into the game. Karn Sharma too chipped in and got the price wicket of Miller. SRH contributed as a unit and outplayed KXIP in all three departments to win their third game of the season and eventually climbed to the fifth position in the points table.
Turning Point: Trent Boult once again turned the game on its head in one over. KXIP were 116 for five at the end of 17th over. Boult bowled an excellent 18th over in which he picked up two crucial wickets of Akshar Patel and the dangerous Wriddhiman Saha and gave only 7 runs. At the end of 18th over KXIP needed 28 runs with their tail-enders batting, which was almost an improbable task.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 150 for 6 in 20 overs [David Warner 58(41), Naman Ojha 28(26); Mitchell Johnson 4-0-39-2, Akshar Patel 4-0-25-2] beat Kings XI Punjab 130 for 9 in 20 overs [Wriddhiman Saha 42 (33) George Bailey 22(16);Trent Boult 4-0-19-3, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-23-2] by 20 runs.
