Barring the brief period when Shaun Marsh thrived on some poor catching to keep alive the hopes of Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad produced a champion-like performance on Friday night.
Having posted 207 for three with Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Kane Williamson scoring half centuries after being asked to bat, Sunrisers bowlers lived up to their growing reputation and earned the team a 26-run victory.
Once again, the Sunrisers’ ability to take wickets complimented the good work done by the three front-line batsmen. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra and Siddharth Kaul struck in the first five overs to reduce Kings XI to 43 for three.
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With Martin Guptill – in for an unwell Hashim Amla – Manan Vohra and Glenn Maxwell back in the dugout, Kings XI was hit further when Man-of-the-Match Rashid Khan enhanced his reputation by conceding just 16 runs off his four overs and accounted for Eion Morgan to break the fourth-wicket stand worth 73 runs.
Siddharth Kaul was not required to prove his cool when bowling the ‘death’ overs. He took three wickets to justify his presence.
Bhuvneshwar, the “Orange Cap” holder returned to effectively end Kings XI’s hopes by accounting for Marsh, the highest scorer at 84, after being dropped at 60 by Deepak Hooda and at 75 by Warner.
Once Marsh departed, Kings XI could only reduce the margin of defeat. Nehra too added two more wickets in the final over.
Interestingly, Sunrisers treated Kings XI much like the way it dealt with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural match this season. In that contest, Sunrisers posted 207 for four – one wicket more than what it lost on this day – and restricted batting-heavy RCB to 166 for a 35-run victory.
Kings XI, capable of chasing down big targets owing to its batting resources, did make a match of it mainly through Marsh and gave its supporters something to cheer about.
Earlier, the Sunrisers innings was well-paced with 13 overs producing 10 runs or more. Ishant Sharma, whose opening over cost three runs, went for 20 in the 19th as Sunrisers expectedly crossed the 200-run mark in the final over.
Dhawan played his best innings of the competition, outpacing Warner in the early part of the innings. Warner, who woke up to his aggressive ways after hitting Axar Patel for a four and two sixes in one over, played his part in the century partnership.
Later Dhawan continued the good work in the company of Williamson. If Sunrisers went past the 200-run mark, it owed it to the elegant Kiwi.
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