KXIP vs SRH, IPL 2018: R Ashwin's Kings knocks down Williamson's Sunrisers by 15 runs, Gayle steals heart; here's complete scoreboard
KXIP vs SRH, IPL 2018: R Ashwin's Kings knocks down Williamson's Sunrisers by 15 runs, Gayle steals heart; here's complete scoreboard
The clash of Sunrisers Hyderabad with Punjab Kings XI was a treat to the cricket fans as the two teams have proved their mettle to the opposition so far. Hyderabad was unbeaten till the date but was smashed by R Ashwin's Punjab. Ashwin won the toss and chose to bat first. Punjab set a strong target of 194 runs for Hyderabad and their bowlers knocked them down and won the match by 15 runs. This was the first debacle for the Hyderabad team. Well, KXIP's all-rounder Chris Gayle won Man of the Match title.
R Ashwin praised the team and Chris Gayle and said, "This was a complete performance. We could have conceded 10 runs lesser to work on the net run rate, it didn't happen but we're still happy. We thought giving them a reasonable score to chase is something we could handle at the back end. Chris batted beautifully and took it away from them. It's more about who we play and what works best. It's about doing well on the Powerplay. For example, Mohit v Dhawan was a clean match-up. It was extremely pleasing to see the crowd today, we have never seen this in Mohali. Chris entertained them. One word won't be enough to describe his knock. His style is hard to replicate when it comes off, it's hard to match it."
Punjab played tremendously, both batsmen and bowler showcased their hard work and blocked all the way for unbeaten Hyderabad to chase the target. KXIP's opener Chris Gayle scored the highest run of the season and the first century of 104 runs, not out. Rahul, 18, Mayank Agarwal 18, while Karun Nair scored 31 and Finch chased 14 unbeaten. Bhuvneshwar, Rashid Khan, Kaul took 1 wicket.
"Hats off to Chris. We know what he could do. They bowled a lot shorter on this wicket. It's what happens in T20 cricket. Hopefully, Shikhar will be ok for the next game. He's been hitting the ball beautifully. Tonight, it wasn't for lack of effort. They bowled really well. We didn't quite execute our play," Williamson said after the match.
Hyderabad had the very disappointing start, lost Shikhar Dhawan on the first ball as retired hurt and Saha on 6 runs. Hyderabad skipper Williamson hit hard and cashed his half-century, 54 while Manish Pandey also chased his half-century, 57 unbeaten. Punjab's Sharma and Tye took 2 wickets each of Hyderabad.
Here's the complete scoreboard of KXIP vs SRH