Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on Jonny Bairstow and Rashid Khan’s brilliance on Thursday to hand Kings XI Punjab by a massive 69-run defeat at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Bairstow smashed a quickfire 97 off 55 balls to help Hyderabad in posting challenging total of 201/6. Rashid then rattled the Punjab batting line-up with his spell of 3/12 as KL Rahul’s men succumbed to their fifth defeat in six matches in IPL 2020.
Opting to bat first, Sunrisers were off to a brilliant start as Bairstow and captain David Warner added 160 runs for the opening wicket with the latter scoring 52 off 40.
While Bairstow’s innings was laced with seven boundaries and six sixes, Warner’s knock contained five boundaries and a hit into the stands.
Ravi Bishnoi, though, with three wickets in quick intervals had halted Hyderabad’s momentum for a bit. But after his spell of 29/3, Kane Williamson with his 10-ball knock of 20 runs made sure the Orange Army crossed the 200-run mark.
For Hyderabad, Rashid Khan was the chief architect while defending with his miserly figures while Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan, too, rose to the occasion and picked two wickets each.
KXIP suffered a batting collapse as even their in-form batters KL Rahul (11) and Mayank Agarwal (9) fell cheaply. Nicholas Pooran tried his best to defy SRH bowlers with his 37-ball 77, but he didn’t get support from the other end, as SRH bowlers rattled the KXIP’s batting line-up.
Pooran’s knock was decorated with seven massive hits and five boundaries.The KL Rahul-led KXIP ultimately folded up for 132.
Brief Scores: SRH 201/6 wkts in 20 overs (D Warner 52, J Bairstow 97; Ravi Bishnoi 3/29) beat KXIP 132 all out in 16.5 overs (N Pooran 77, KL Rahul 11; Rashid Khan 3/12) by 69 runs
With IANS inputs