A fantastic bowling performance from the Sunrisers Hyderabad on not-so-easy batting conditions in Chennai meant the seventh placed Punjab Kings were rolled over for 120 before the end of their allotted 20 overs in IPL 2021.
Khaleel Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for Hyderabad, finishing with figures of 3/21.
Having won the toss and opted to bat first, KL Rahul could not make it count despite being in good form as he was the first to depart when Bhuvneshwar Kumar had him caught at midwicket by Kedar Jadhav for 4.
Mayank Agarwal (22) and the veteran Chris Gayle put on 24 runs together for the second wicket, struggling to get a move on. The right-hander was the next to fall when Rashid Khan took a sharp catch as Khaleel Ahmed’s change of pace foxed the batter.
That brought the dangerous but out-of-form Nicholas Pooran to the middle along with Gayle, but an attempted quick single to David Warner did not work out. Warner’s direct hit from cover had Pooran running back for a duck without having faced a ball.
In the next over, Rashid Khan got into the act as he trapped Gayle LBW for 15, leaving Punjab in a spot of bother at 47/4.
With Punjab struggling, Deepak Hooda tried to break the shackles and whacked a couple of boundaries, even looking to take on Rashid, but could not keep it going. He was dismissed for 13, LBW by Abhishek Sharma as Punjab lost half their side for 63.
Debutant Moises Henriques added 14 to the cause and with Shahrukh Khan looked to give his side some momentum in the second half of the innings.
Abhishek Sharma however bamboozled him in flight and had him stumped by Jonny Bairstow as Punjab lost their 6th wicket in the 14th over.
Shahrukh smashed a couple of monster sixes while debutant Fabian Allen kept chipping away at his end.
Allen (6), who tried to force the issue in the 17th over, didn’t connect as well as he would have liked with Khaleel’s slower one, allowing Warner to take diving catch at extra cover.
Feeling the pressure to up the rate, Shahrukh (22) too perished trying to clear the ropes, becoming Khaleel’s third wicket as Abhishek Sharma took the catch at deep mid-wicket.
Murugan Ashwin was the ninth wicket to fall when an attempted big hoick caught the bottom edge and went to Bairstow for an easy catch. Ashwin with 9 to his name was Sidharth Kaul’s first wicket of the game.
Mohammed Shami was the final wicket to fall as he tried to steal a quick two in the final over. Punjab were skittled out for 120.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)