IPL 2021 | SRH vs PBKS: What Experts said as Hyderabad get off the mark

Sunrisers Hyderabad have finally broken the losing streak in this IPL 2021 edition after they thumped Punjab Kings by 9 wickets in Chennai on Sunday. Chasing an easy target of 121, SRH went over the line pretty comprehensively with 8 balls to spare. 

Wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow who has been in sublime touch continued his purple patch and notched up an unbeaten 63 off 56 which included three maximums and as many boundaries. 

Both Bairstow and Warner took their time and knowing that the scoring rate was not huge, both kept milking singles and doubles and never really allowed the pressure to build on them. Bairstow and Warner gave a steady start to the proceedings as the two put 73 runs on the board for the first wicket before the skipper departed. 

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson who played his first IPL match this year scored an unbeaten 16 off 19. 

Earlier, Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket that seemed to be helpful for the batsmen. But David Warner’s fine piece of captaincy didn’t let the Punjab batsmen take the upper hand at any given stage of the match. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed the skipper early for 4 after he was caught by Kedar Jadhav at short mid-wicket. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals and they were soon left tottering at 82/6 to eventually get bundled out for 120. 

While the SRH seamers Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed gave them a positive start, spinners Rashid Khan and Abhishek Sharma capitalised on it and didn’t let the Punjab batting line up any chance to claw their way back into the game. Khaleel eventually bagged a three-wicket haul while Abhishek and Rashid returned with figures of 2/24 and 1/17 respectively. 

Both Sharma and Rashid spun a web around the batsman and resisted the run flow during the middle overs in particular. Shahrukh Khan top-scored for Punjab with a 17-ball 22. 

Captain’s viewpoints

Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul insisted that the team fell short of 10-15 runs while praising the bowlers for their hard work. 

“We knew what to expect here. Tried to get used to the conditions as quickly as we can. We were 10-15 short on this pitch. Bowlers tried very hard, but it's very hard coming into these conditions and adapting quickly. Hindsight is a beautiful thing. We knew they were going to come hard. It's tricky to have attacking fields. Was waiting for one of them to get out and then put pressure,” Rahul said. 

The right-handed batsman also said they wanted to take the game deep and were searching for wickets to break the shackles which didn’t really happen.

“Wanted to take the game as deep as possible. Unfortunately, we couldn't get wickets in the middle and that cost us. Every game is important for us and we've been in that position. It's not a bad position to be in. Hopefully learn from our mistakes and keep getting better,” KL added.

SRH skipper David Warner hailed his bowlers and said that they did a fantastic job in restricting Punjab to a low score. “Very pleasing. Our bowlers did a fantastic job and reduced them to a low score. They executed well and we won batting second,” he said. 

Warner himself got out after miscuing a big shot off Fabian Allen and was caught in the deep by Mayank Agarwal who did take a stunner. Talking about his wicket, the left-hander admitted that he could have executed the stroke in a better way. “It was probably a mixture of both (mistimed and fatigue), I should have tried to hit it in the grandstand but that happens in cricket,” Warner added. 

Kane Williamson played his first match in this edition of the IPL on Wednesday. When asked about Williamson’s role, Warner said he is there to anchor the team and stay at the crease. “The game plan of having him (Williamson) there is obviously to anchor the game and he rotates strike so well. Against spin, he gets forward and gets back, he just knows his role and game plan. It's handy having him in the middle. I am really pleased we got across the line,” the Aussie batsman said. 

Warner also lavished praise on youngster Abhishek Sharma who kept things pretty tight while bowling and eventually picked up a couple of wickets during the course of the innings. “He (Abhishek Sharma) is a young guy coming through and he's exciting. We asked him to work on his bowling a lot more during the series this year and he did that. We have got one more game here. No surprises with this wicket, we got to bowl well. It's all about starting fresh again and taking the wicket out of it. Game plan - simple,” the SRH captain concluded.

Expert Opinion

Nicholas Pooran once again failed to leave a mark after he was run out by David Warner without even facing a ball against SRH. The cricket pundit and commentator Harsha Bhogle expressed his disappointment about Pooran’s lean patch and how the left-handed batsman has been failing. 

Punjab Kings made some changes to their line up but the result didn’t go their way. Vikrant Gupta pointed out the similar point after the final outcome of the game. 

Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan also hailed the Sunrisers Hyderabad for their first win in the tournament and congratulated Jonny Bairstow, Khaleel Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma for their performances. 

Punjab Kings will now face Mumbai Indians in Chennai on Friday while SRH will be up against Delhi Capitals on Sunday at the same venue.