Rashid Khan’s 3-19 helped throttle the Kings XI Punjab’s chase of 133 as Sunrisers Hyderabad sealed a 13-run victory in Hyderabad.
It was a day for the bowlers. A middle over squeeze from the Sunrisers helped them seal the win as they defended a total of 132-6.
It was so different at the beginning for Kings XI as the visitors’ opening pair Lokesh Rahul and Chris Gayle took the Sunrisers to 55 without loss, but Rashid made the breakthrough to dismiss Rahul on 32. Gayle followed two runs later with Basil Thampi removing the ‘Universe Boss’ for 23.
Rashid was then joined by Shakib Al Hasan, as the Kings XI continued to collapse, losing Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair – who was also dismissed by Rashid. Paceman Sandeep Sharma then joined the party and took a double in the 16th over, with the Kings XI losing seven for 92.
A run-out in the 17th over saw them reduced to 99-8 as the Kings XI choked under pressure. Rashid struck the following over to reduce the visitors to 101-9. Thampi finished off the opposition with his second; the visitors were all out for 119.
The Kings XI would never have imagined their evening taking such a drastic turn after a brilliant four overs from Ankit Rajpoot. The seamer’s five-for helped restrict the hosts to a below-par target.
He started by taking a wicket in each of his opening three overs.
This shook the Sunrisers, who were three down with 27 on the board by the fifth over.
Manish Pandey and Shakib started a slow revival; they went six overs without scoring a boundary but managed to string together 52 runs for the fourth wicket.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman – who finished with 1-17 – broke the partnership, dismissing Shakib for 28.
Pandey reached his half-century and strung together 49 with Yusuf Pathan (21) but Rajpoot struck again, this time dismissing Pandey on 54.
The KXIP seamer made it five with the wicket of Mohammed Nabi and finished with figures of 5-14 to reduce SRH for 132-6. Unfortunately, it was not enough for the hosts as Rajpoot could only look on as his batsmen fluffed what should have been a routine run-chase.
