An opiate for the masses, a bubble of carnival inside a giant circle of despair, and in what is a small, inconsequential event as the country battles insurmountable hurdles, Match 13 of the Indian Premier League 2021 saw Sunrisers Hyderabad registering their first victory of the season. They defeated Punjab Kings by nine wickets at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Chasing 121 to win, SRH got off a rollicking start, courtesy David Warner (37 off 37 balls) and Jonny Bairstow (63 not out off 56) as they added 73 runs for the first wicket. Kane Williamson chipped in with an unbeaten 16 as SRH hunted down the total without any further loss.
Punjab Kings could not recover from the early setbacks and were bowled out for 120. Khaleel Ahmed (4-0-21-3) was the pick of the bowlers. He picked up crucial wickets of Mayank Agarwal, Shahrukh Khan and Fabian Allen.
Abhishek Sharma (4-0-24-2) began the attack for SRH, and nearly got the better of Agarwal (22 off 25) on the last ball. Rashid Khan made a dashing sprint from deep mid-wicket, managed to get underneath the ball but could not hold on.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed kept things tight in the subsequent overs before the former struck KL Rahul on the very ball of his second over. Rahul hit hard but straight to Kedar Jadhav at mid-wicket.
This brought Chris Gayle to the crease. He and Mayank were not able to break the shackles as PBKS managed just 32 runs from the Powerplay. In the seventh over, Mayank miscued a pull off Khaleel Ahmed: Rashid redeemed himself with an excellent catch that was sent upstairs by the field umpire.
Nicholas Pooran walked back without facing a delivery. He was miles off the crease and saw the stumps getting crashed by a precise throw from Warner. Pooran now has three ducks, including golden and diamond ones, in four matches. Gayle followed his compatriot after missing a slider from Rashid that stayed low and pinned him on the front pad.
Abhishek got his second wicket of the day when Moises Henriques missed the line of the ball while attempting an expansive swing after stepping down the track. Bairstow unsettled the stumps to reduce PBKS to 82/6. Henriques played 17 balls but failed to hit a boundary.
Shahrukh Khan (22 off 17) slog-swept the first six of the innings, as late as in the 14th over. He then deposited a slow cutter from Siddharth Kaul in the stands. He fell in the penultimate over, and Punjab Kings were bundled out for 120 runs in 19.4 overs.
After falling inches short of the finishing line thrice this season, the SRH opening pair was aware of the fact that any complacency on their part may again expose their inconsistent, unreliable middle-order. Although they had Williamson at No. 3, there was little experience in the line-up otherwise.
As skipper Warner anchored the chase, Jonny Bairstow played the role of an aggressor. When Fabian Allen came on to attack in the second over, Bairstow smashed him through the covers on the first legitimate delivery, and finished the over with a clean hit over long-on for a six.
Mohammed Shami conceded 10 off his second over as both batters picked a boundary each. SRH raced away to 50 without loss by the end of the Powerplay. M Ashwin and Deepak Hooda then bowled four overs in tandem and conceded just 23. Warner got out in the next over, to Allen. The over turned out to be a rarity – a wicket-maiden.
At this point, SRH needed just 48 runs from the next ten overs. Bairstow completed his half-century in the eighteenth over with a commanding pull over the mid-wicket. With 10 needed from the last two overs, he muscled a six over the mid-wicket. In the end, SRH chased down the target with eight balls to spare.
Brief Scores:
Punjab Kings 120 in 19.4 overs (Shahrukh Khan 22; Khaleel Ahmed 3-21) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad (Jonny Bairstow 63*; Fabian Allen 1-22) by 9 wickets with 8 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Jonny Bairstow.