A captain’s knock from Shikhar Dhawan (66-ball unbeaten 99) went in vain as memorable performances from Rahul Tripathi (48-ball unbeaten 78)and Mayank Markande (4 wickets for 15 runs) helped Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Punjab Kings by eight wickets at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday (April 9). By virtue of tonight’s win over Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad won their first match in this year’s IPL after losing both their opening games.
Earlier, Punjab Kings won the toss and invited Sunrisers Hyderabad to bat first. Punjab kept losing wickets at regular intervals as spinner Mayank Markande (4 wickets for 15 runs) spun a web around PBKS to leave them reeling at 88 for nine in the 15th over. Shikhar Dhawan played a captain’s innings (66-ball unbeaten 99) to propel Punjab Kings to 143/9 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Even as Punjab Kings lost quick wickets, skipper Dhawan stood tall with an incredible unbeaten 99-run knock, laced up with 12 boundaries and five sixes.
Punjab were off to a disastrous start as veteran India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar trapped their opener Prabhsimran Singh in front of the wicket for an Leg-Before-Wicket (LBW) dismissal in the very first ball of the match, leaving Punjab at none for one.
PBKS lost their second wicket after South African left-arm pacer Marco Jansen got Matthew Short (1) LBW out in just the second delivery of the match’s second over.
Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma fell for mere 4 runs after failing to clear Aiden Markram at mid-off. English all-rounder Sam Curran announced his arrival with a six and four off successive Marco Jansen deliveries before getting cleaned up by leg-spinner Markande.
But Dhawan had other ideas as he smashed the SRH bowlers to take his team to a respectable total. Helping Dhawan along the way was Bhuvneshwar, who spilled three chances by the batter, including two off his own bowling.
