Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad continued their winning run with a 20-run victory over Kings XI Punjab in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.
KL Rahul and Chris Gayle provided a solid start but the hosts soon found a way back into the match through Rashid Khan.
From there, Ashwin and co kept losing wickets at regular intervals as the momentum shifted in favour of SRH. The opposition bowlers fought together with a cause and cruised the team to yet another victory.
KXIP 110-9 after 18 overs:
CAUGHT! Rashid turns the ball away from Ashwin. The batsman gets the bottom edge of the bat and presents a dolly to Williamson at cover.
RUN OUT! Sran is involved in a horrible mix-up with Ashwin. Another one bites the dust.
KXIP 97-7 after 16 overs:
DOUBLE STRIKE! Sandeep Sharma removes Manoj Tiwary and Andrew Tye. Pressure piling on the visitors.
KXIP 91-5 after 16 overs:
WICKET! Finch tries to smack Shakib for another biggie but finds Pandey at long on. KXIP in trouble!
KXIP 82-4 after 14 overs:
LBW! Rashid spins his magic again. Karun Nair is baffled by the googly and is trapped right in front of the stumps.
KXIP 80-3 after 13 overs:
WICKET! Agarwal tries to go for a big one but all he can do is find the man at long on.
KXIP 61-2 after 9 overs:
WICKET! Thampi is ecstatic. Banged in short and Chris Gayle miscues his pull as the ball heads in the square leg region. The bowler calls for it and collects it.
KXIP 56-1 after 8 overs:
WICKET! Rashid Khan bamboozles the Karnataka batsman with the wrong 'un and he is bowled.
KXIP 53-0 after 7 overs:
FIFTY! KL Rahul and Chris Gayle have provided the perfect start. But the job is only half complete.
1st innings: Sunrisers Hyderabad set Kings XI Punjab a target of 133 to chase after being put into bat by the visitors. Manish Pandey top scored for the team with a decent half-century and now the task is upon the bowlers to deliver the goods.
It was a power play to forget for SRH as Ankit Rajpoot ran riot early on. The youngster claimed the wickets of skipper Kane Williamson, Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha to put the hosts in trouble.
Shakib Al Hasan and Manish Pandey then struck a fifty partnership before Mujeeb Zadran broke the stand with his mystery spin.
Rajpoot came into his final over again and removed Pandey and Mohammad Nabi to claim his best IPL bowling figures as the hosts posted a meek 132-6 on board.
SRH 136-6 after 20 overs:
WICKET! Five wicket-haul for Rajpoot. Fullish delivery and Nabi looks to get under it, finds the man at long off.
CASTLED! In-swinging yorker. Pandey misses and Rajpoot hits. End of a promising knock.
SRH 126-4 after 19 overs:
FIFTY! Manish Pandey brings up his first half-century of the season. Has managed to stay till the end but his side need some big shots from him now.
SRH 83-4 after 14 overs:
MUJEEB STRIKES! And the partnership is broken. Shakib is undone by the wrong one and lofts it high up in the air. Finds Mayank Agarwal at long on.
SRH 27-3 after 5 overs:
ANOTHER ONE! Rajpoot on fire. What a spell he's having. Banged in short again and it's a miserable pull by Saha. Presents Tye with a simple catch at mid-wicket.
Look who's on a roll here in Hyderabad.
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 26, 2018
Three wickets in his three overs so far #SRHvKXIP #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/ORfx0NBkex
SRH 16-2 after 3 overs:
WICKET! What a tournament the youngster is having. Short again, swinging away from Dhawan. The southpaw goes to defend and gets a thick edge that edges straight to Saha behind the wickets. Perfect start for the visitors!
SRH 1-1 after 1 over:
AND GONE! Rajpoot gets the big fish and complete silence at the venue. Banged in short, the SRH skipper goes for a pull without putting himself in a good position. Ashwin at mid-off takes an easy catch.
Preview: After getting back to winning ways, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will aim for revenge when they face Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Kane Williamson and co defended a paltry 118 against three-time winners Mumbai Indians and still ended up on the winning side despite injuries to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Billy Stanlake.
Rashid Khan and Siddharth Kaul roared back into form and much will be expected of the duo once again.
Meanwhile, KXIP have started the tournament in style, placed second in the 2018 IPL table. Chris Gayle smacked a dazzling century in the last tie and with the veteran still recovering from soreness, SRH will hope the Universe Boss continues to stay on the sidelines.
Both the sides have got a taste of each other and will be better prepared as they head into the clash.
Toss:
#KXIP Captain @ashwinravi99 wins the toss and elects to bowl first against the home team.#SRHvKXIP #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/jDqj7v1cMe
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 26, 2018
So the news from the middle is that KXIP have won the toss and elected to field. Here's how both the teams line-up for today:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Wriddhiman Saha(w), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Basil Thampi, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma
Kings XI Punjab: Lokesh Rahul(w), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Aaron Finch, Manoj Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Ankit Rajpoot, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Squads:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib Al Hasan, Manish Pandey, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, T Natarajan, Mohammad Nabi, Basil Thampi, K Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake, Tanmay Agarwal, Shreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Alex Hales.
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), AJ Tye, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Chris Gayle.
When is the match?
The match is scheduled to start at 8 P.M. IST on Thursday (April 26).
Where is the match?
The match will take place at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Live telecast and timings:
With Star India now acquiring the media rights from Sony Pictures Network India for the upcoming season, the matches will be telecast on various Star Sports channels.
Live streaming:
The matches can be viewed live on Hotstar.com or on the Hotstar app.
