IPL 2021: Bairstow steers Sunrisers to nine-wicket win over sloppy Punjab Kings

For a side that boasts of exciting stroke-players—skipper KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle and Nicolas Pooran—a total of 120 is hardly enough, even on a slow MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch in Chennai.

It’s going from bad to worse for Punjab Kings in IPL 2021. They did win their first game of the season, but that has turned out to be a mirage. On Wednesday, their batting crumbled against Sunrisers Hyderabad and a nine-wicket loss pushed them to last in the points table.

Players shake hands after SRH beats PBKS by 9 wickets.(IPL)

For a side that boasts of exciting stroke-players—skipper KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle and Nicolas Pooran—a total of 120 is hardly enough, even on a slow MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch in Chennai. And this after Punjab Kings had folded for 106 against Chennai Super Kings the other day at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Punjab gave the impression that they have disintegrated.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

For SRH, it was their first win. They had lost their first three matches, and as pointed out repeatedly, the inclusion of Kane Williamson pepped up the team. Just when it seemed that things were slipping away, Hyderabad may also have found their best eleven. Punjab Kings, also with one win from four games, are last due to their inferior net run rate.

Taking advantage of the slow wicket at the Chepauk, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner rotated his bowlers well. Punjab were tottering at 39-3, and never recovered from the position. Rahul fell for four and Agarwal (22), Gayle (15), Deepak Hooda (13) and Moisis Henriques (14) all failed to push on despite getting set.

For Hyderabad, leg-spinner Rashid Khan was the most threatening bowling though he took just one wicket. The left arm spinner Abhishek Sharma bowled exceedingly well to scalp two.

After the game, Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul said: “It was tough to adapt but we knew, having watched the games, what to expect. We tried to get used to the conditions as quickly as we could, but we were 10-15 runs short. A few batsmen got set but could not get those 30s and 40s that could get us through. We knew Jonny (Bairstow) and David (Warner) are their key batters; you know they are going to come hard.”

Punjab looked up to Mohammed Shami for a miracle but his woes with the ball continued. SRH skipper Warner showed glimpse of his class, scoring a 37-ball 37 runs before holing out to Mayank Aggarwal at the deep-wicket off Caribbean left-arm spinner Fabian Allen. His opening partner, Johny Bairstow, did the rest to set up the Sunrisers Hyderabad win, remaining 63 not out with Williamson on 16.