Sorry for not writing for last match. Yesterday’s first match was an exciting match. The match was played at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali. This was the Punjab’s last match to be played at this ground.
Kings XI Punjab won the toss and chose to bat first. Punjab start was average. The 33-run stand between Vijay and Hashim Amla in 26 balls started very well. They lost Vijay early in 5th over of the innings. Vijay was caught by David Warner off Mustafizur Rahman’s 1st over. Hashim Amla hit a boundary off Nehra’s 2nd ball. Nehra often too many balls in his first 2 overs. Hashim Amla hit a four and six off Karn Sharma’s 1st over. Punjab was comfortably placed at 87 for 1 in 11 overs. The 54-run stand between Hashim Amla and Wriddhiman Saha in 41 balls increased the run-rate. They lost Wriddhiman Saha in first ball of 12th over of the innings. Wriddhiman Saha was caught by Deepak Hooda off Henriques 2nd over. At one stage Punjab will cross the 200-run mark and Punjab was also comfortably placed at 152 for 2 in 17.1 overs. The 65-run stand between Hashim Amla and Gukeerat Singh Mann in 37 balls was the highest. They lost Gukeerat Singh Mann in 18th over of the innings. Gukeerat Singh Mann was bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in his 3rd over. Nehra suffered a leg injury in his penultimate ball of 3rd over. Ben Cutting bowled the final ball of 19th over after Nehra’s injury. Hashim Amla scored a brilliant 96 off 56 balls and destroyed the Hyderabad bowlers. This was his 1st fifty in IPL career and overall 17th fifty on his T20 career. This was his highest IPL score against his previous highest off 21 runs vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at same ground few days ago. This was his second highest T20 score behind 97 runs for South Africa vs Australia at Cape Town earlier this year. This was the highest score by Punjab batsman in this season against the previous highest off 89 runs by Vijay against Royal Challengers Bangalore also at Mohali. This was the highest score by batsman in this match. They lost Hashim Amla in last over of the innings. Hashim Amla was caught by David Warner off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s final over. Punjab posted a competitive total of 179 runs for the loss of 4 wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the most successful bowler for Hyderabad when he took 2 wickets.
Hyderabad start was good. The 68-run stand between David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan in 48 balls was the highest. This was the third highest 1st wicket partnership for Hyderabad in this season. They lost Shikhar Dhawan in last ball of 8th over of the innings. Shikhar Dhawan was run out by a direct throw by Mohit Sharma. David Warner hit 2 sixes off Mohit Sharma’s 2nd over. Hyderabad was comfortably placed at 97 for 1 in 12 overs. Warner scored a fine 52 off 41 balls and hammered the Punjab bowlers. This was his 6th fifty of the season and overall 29th fifty of his IPL career. This was the second most fifties by batsman in IPL history behind Gambhir with 30 fifties. This was the highest score by batsman in this innings. They lost David Warner in first ball of 13th over of the innings. David Warner was hit wicket by Axar Patel in his 2nd over. They hit a four and six off Axar Patel’s same over. Yuvraj Singh hit a six off Mohit Sharma’s 3rd over. They scored 10 runs apiece in next 3 overs. Hyderabad was also comfortably placed at 139 for 2 in 15.5 overs and it looked Hyderabad will win the match. Deepak Hooda scored a classy 34 off 22 balls and attacked the Punjab bowling. The 42-run stand between Deepak Hooda and Yuvraj Singh in 23 balls increased the run-rate. They lost Deepak Hooda in last ball of 16th over of the innings. Deepak Hooda was caught by David Miller off Sandeep Sharma’s 3rd over. Yuvraj Singh hit a six and 2 consecutive fours off Axar Patel’s last over. Ben Cutting hit a six and equation was down to 20 off 12 balls. Maxwell conceded 11 runs in 19th over of the innings. Yuvraj Singh hit a six off Mohit Sharma’s final over. Yuvraj Singh scored a quickfire 42 off 24 balls and smashed the Punjab bowling. The 41-run stand between Yuvraj Singh and Ben Cutting in 22 balls remained unbeaten. Yuvraj Singh took a winning run and Hyderabad won comfortably. Axar Patel and Sandeep Sharma took 1 wicket each for Hyderabad. Hyderabad won the match by 7 wickets. This was Hyderabad’s 8th win in IPL 2016. This win meant Hyderabad became the first team to make it to playoffs. Punjab are the second team to knock out of the IPL 2016 after Pune.
Now, Sunrisers Hyderabad will face Delhi Daredevils on May 20. Kings XI Punjab will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 18.
We will back with second match soon.