Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by eight wickets in yesterday’s (April 9) Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Bowling first after winning the toss, SRH bowlers did a great job of restricting PBKS to 143/9. Mayank Markande stood out for Hyderabad with figures of 4/15. In reply, Rahul Tripathi guided the team home with an unbeaten 74.
Punjab’s innings was a one-man show as skipper Shikhar Dhawan remained unbeaten on 99 off 66 balls. Sam Curran (22) was the only other batter to reach double figures. PBKS got off to a horror start as Prabhsimran Singh (0) was trapped lbw by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first ball. The dismissal set the tone for Punjab’s innings.
Marco Jansen caught Matthew Short (one) in front of the stumps with a good length delivery. Jitesh Sharma (four) then miscued the left-arm pacer to mid-off. Curran came in and took on the bowling to give PBKS hope. However, he miscued a googly from Markande to short third man.
The decision to bring in Sikandar Raza as the Impact Player also did not help the batting side’s cause. He was dismissed for five, mistiming a bouncer off Umran Malik. Markande then dismissed Shahrukh Khan (four), Rahul Chahar (0) and Nathan Ellis (0), while Umran cleaned up Harpreet Brar as Punjab slumped to 88/9.
Dhawan, however, played some fantastic strokes to lend some respectability to the total. He smacked T Natarajan for consecutive sixes in the 16th over. Boundaries flowed off the left-hander’s bat on a day when he enjoyed plenty of luck as well.
He was dropped thrice by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, twice off his own bowling. Dhawan ended Punjab’s innings on a high, slamming the last ball from Natarajan for a maximum over midwicket.
Rahul Tripathi guides SRH to comprehensive win
Chasing 144, SRH lost Harry Brook cheaply again. Opening the innings, he was bowled by Arshdeep Singh for 13. Mayank Agarwal got another start, but again failed to convert it into a big score. He reached 21 before skying an attempted big hit off Rahul Chahar.
Tripathi (74* off 48), however, looked in great touch from the word go. He smacked Chahar for consecutive boundaries immediately after Agarwal’s dismissal. In the next over, three consecutive fours came off Brar’s bowling.
Tripathi brought up a 35-ball fifty by launching Mohit Rathee over his head for a maximum. Tripathi and skipper Aiden Markram (37 not out off 21) added an unbroken 100-run stand for the third wicket.
Markram whacked Ellis for four fours in the 17th over. Tripathi then hit the winning runs with a square cut off Brar to the boundary.
SRH vs PBKS: Who Won Player of the Match in yesterday’s IPL 2023 match?
Captain Dhawan played a lone hand for Punjab. His 99* featured 12 fours and five sixes.
For SRH, Markande was outstanding with a four-wicket haul, while Tripathi scored a fine half-century, smashing 10 fours and three sixes.
Despite ending up on the losing side, Dhawan was named Player of the Match.
