Mohali: K L Rahul and Mayank Agarwal struck fluent half-centuries to guide Kings XI Punjab to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a nail-bitting Indian Premier League match here Monday. Opting to bat, Kings XI first restricted Sunrisers to 150 for four and then rode on Rahul and Agarwal’s knocks to chased down the target in 19.5 overs. Rahul (71 not out) and Agarwal (55) stitched 114 runs off 84 balls for the second wicket to take Kings XI close to the target. Chasing 151 for a win, Kings XI lost dangerous Chris Gayle (16) in the fourth over with their scoreboard reading 18.
Gayle struck a four and a six each before Deepak Hooda took a brilliant catch at long-on boundary off Rashid Khan’s (1/20) bowling to sent packing the West Indian. Rahul and Agarwal then complemented each other brilliantly as the duo mixed caution with aggression to literally take the game away from Sunrisers. It was stroll in the park for Kings XI when Rahul and Agarwal were going great guns but the scenario changed completely, courtesy the two quick wickets.
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Kings XI needed 16 runs off the last two overs and the pressure got the better of new man Mandeep Singh, caught by Hooda off Siddharth Kaul’s brilliant penultimate over that yielded just five runs. The pressure shifted to Kings XI in no time as they needed 11 runs off the last over off Nabi but Sam Curran (5 not out) and Rahul played sensibly without committing any harakiri to reach home with a ball to spare. Earlier, David Warner struck his fourth fifty of the season before Hooda played a cameo in the final over to lift Sunrisers to a challenging 150 for four.
Opening the batting, Warner carried on his bat for an uncharacteristic 70 not out off 62 balls to anchor Sunrisers’ innings but it was Hooda’s unbeaten 14 off three deliveries that provided the late thrust to the visitors’ innings. Kings XI bowlers delivered tight bowling performance to restrict SRH in the powerplay initially. Giving away only 27 in the first six overs, SRH got off to their slowest start of this season.
Sunrisers suffered an early blow in the form of Jonny Bairstow (1) after being sent into bat. Bairstow failed to control a flick off Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s (1/34) bowling as Kings XI skipper Ravichandran Ashwin took a smart catch at short midwicket in the second over. The early dismissal, together with some disciplined bowling from Kings XI, made life difficult for Sunrisers batsmen as Warner and new man in Shankar (26) found the going tough. The duo failed to strike big and stitched 49 runs for the second wicket off 57 balls to stabilise the Sunrisers innings.
Sunrisers managed only 27 in the first six overs with Warner on 9 off 17 and Jonny Bairstow dismissed for 1. There was no collapse, but Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to their slowest start in this season’s IPL, by a distance
Sunrisers Hyderabad
D Warner not out………………………..70
J Bairstow c Ashwin b Rahman………1
V Shankar c Rahul b Ashwin………..26
M Nabi run out (Ashwin)………………12
M Pandey c Nair b Shami……………19
D Hooda not out…………………………14
Extras: (LB-5, W-3)………………………8
Total: (for 4 wickets in 20 overs)…150
Fow: 1-7, 2-56, 3-80, 4-135
Bowling: Rajpoot 4-0-21-0, Rahman 4-0-34-1, Shami 4-0-30-1, Ashwin 4-0-30-1, Curran 4-0-30-0
Kings xi Punjab
KL Rahul not out…………………………71
C Gayle c Hooda b Khan…………….16
M Agarwal c Shankar b Sharma……55
D Miller c Hooda b Sharma……………1
M Singh c Hooda b Kaul……………….2
S Curran not out…………………………..5
Extras: (lb 1)……………………………….1
Total: (for 4 wickets, 19.5 overs)151/4
Fow: 1-18, 2-132, 3-135, 4-140
Bowling: Kumar 4-0-25-0, Sharma 4-0-21-2, Khan 4-0-20-1, Nabi 3.5-0-42-0, Kaul 4-0-42-1
