SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) won their first match of the season at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday, beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) by nine wickets in Match 14 of the unfolding Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season.
SRH scored 121 for one in 18.4 overs while chasing a total of 121 runs. SRH got off to a good start thanks to openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, who scored 37 and 63 runs, respectively. With Warner out, Kane Williamson snatched the game from Bairstow with a 16-run knock off 19 balls.
The duo remained unbeaten, winning the match with eight balls to spare. In the meantime, Fabian Allen took a wicket for PBKS. Punjab had earlier finished their innings after being bowled out for 120 runs in 19.4 overs. The team’s batting order suffered a huge slump, with Shahrukh Khan (22) and Mayank Agarwal (22) providing the only notable contributions.
For SRH, Khaleel Ahmed was in excellent form, taking three wickets in four overs while conceding just 21 runs. In the meantime, Abhishek Sharma claimed two wickets, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, and Rashid Khan each claimed one.
The victory helped SRH earn their first points of the season, knocking KKR out of fifth place on the table thanks to a better net run rate than the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise. Due to their third consecutive loss, PBKS has swapped places with SRH and is now the bottom-placed side.
In the IPL 2021, this was just the third time a team managed to effectively chase down a goal in eight matches at the Chepauk.
However, SRH’s victory was set up in the first half of the game by their bowlers, especially Khaleel Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma.
After taking a single off the first ball of the match, Rahul became the first player in T20 cricket to cross 5000 runs. He surpassed Chris Gayle, his PBKS colleague, as the second-fastest batsman to accomplish the feat, and shattered Virat Kohli’s record to become the fastest Indian to reach the 5k club.
