IPL 2022, PBKS vs SRH, Top Performances: Harpreet Brar's 3-26, Liam Livingstone's 49* and Washington Sundar's 25* & 1/19 are top three performances. Punjab finish sixth in IPL 2022.
Brief Scores: PBKS 160/5 (Livingstone 49*, Dhawan 39, Farooqi 2/32) beat SRH 157/8 (Abhishek Sharma 43, Shepherd 26, Brar 3/26) by 5 wickets
Player of the Match: Harpreet Brar (3/26)
Punjab Kings (PBKS) bowed out of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 on an honourable note after trampling Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 5 wickets at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in the last game of the league stage on Sunday.
Having already been eliminated from the playoffs, both teams were playing the last game of the league stage for honour and to ascertain their weakness and strengths to work upon ahead of the next season.
PBKS, who have blown hot and cold in the tournament, came into the match after a crushing defeat against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their last match. On the other hand, SRH had entered the game high on confidence after trouncing MI in a close shave encounter in their last game.
Ahead of this game, SRH had been in a dominating position over PBKS, winning three out of five matches over the latter. However, in the 70th match of the tournament, PBKS ensured that they walk out of the tournament on a victorious note and avenge their last defeat against SRH by 7 wickets earlier in the tournament.
A tale of contrasting powerplays & batting intent
SRH were already playing without their captain Kane Williamson, who has flown back to his country for the birth of his child. Therefore, his deputy Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who covered for him led the side. Initially, things went in favour of SRH as Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the toss and chose to bat first. However, that didn’t seem to click for the side as they demonstrated low-key batting yielding just 43 runs for the loss of one wicket at the end of the powerplay.
From there on, things went south for the side as Harpreet Brar decapitated their top-order batters. His spell of 3/26, followed by Australia’s Nathan Ellis, who finished with 3/40, helped PBKS restrict SRH to 157/8 in 20 overs.
In their quest, PBKS owing to compelling batting right from the beginning took the onus for the victory. The chase saw PBKS score 62/1 at the powerplay, followed by the breezy knock from Liam Livingstone, who ransacked SRH bowlers for 5 sixes and a couple of boundaries to help his side complete a comfortable 5-wicket win to sing the redemption song.
Here are the top performances of the game between SRH and PBKS, Match 70, IPL 2022.
Harpreet Brar strangles SRH batting, returns figure of 3/26
The 26-year-old batting all-rounder Harpreet Brar was one of the key presence on the field that jolted the SRH innings with regular wickets. He sealed the run-flow of SRH by taking three of their crucial wickets during his spell.
Brar came into bowl when SRH were comfortably placed at 59/1 after 8 overs. After having manifested a decent powerplay with 43 runs at the cost of Priyam Garg (4). Brar started engineering the SRH innings by first sending Rahul Tripathi back to the pavilion for a personal score of 20(18) by trapping him at short leg. His next target was SRH’s top-scorer Abhishek Sharma, who was on song en route his fifty and tried clearing Brar for a six. However, he was caught at the boundary when Liam Livingstone pulled off one of the best catches of the season. Abhishek Sharma departed for 43 and also scored 426 runs in IPL 2022 which is his best campaign so far.
Brar’s third scalp came in the form of South Africa’s Aiden Markram, who departed cheaply for 4 following the agile stumping from PBKS wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma. SRH lost half the team in 15 overs, following Markram’s dismissal and the scorecard reeling at 96/5. Harpreet Brar became the player of the match for his impressive spell of 3/26 at an economy rate of 6.50.
Read More: IPL 2022, MI vs SRH, Top Performances: Tripathi 76, Malik 3-23 help SRH win; David's 46 goes waste
Liam Livingstone power packs PBKS to victory with all-round performance
England all-rounder Liam Livingstone has remained hot property for PBKS this entire season. He scored an unbeaten 49* and also bowled an economical spell in PBKS’ winning cause.
In Punjab’s quest for 158 runs, Livingstone came in to bat when they were well-poised in the game after having scored 60+ runs for the 6th time this season. He started his innings with a gigantic six off Washington Sundar’s last ball of the 9th over. Then, Livingstone followed suit by hammering the SRH speed sensation Umran Malik for two consecutive sixes in the next over.
Livingstone showed his dominance over the pacer with 31 runs off 14 deliveries in their faceoff this season, at a staggering strike rate of 221.4. Livingstone’s presence only made things easier for PBKS as they raced to 160/5 and won the game by 5 wickets in just 15.1 overs.
In a nutshell, Livingstone scored an unbeaten 49* runs and leaked just one six and as many fours in the form of boundaries, during his spell that conceded 25 runs at just over 6 RPO, followed by a scintillating catch at the boundary to end the set batter Abhishek Sharma’s knock.
Read More: IPL 2022, SRH vs KKR, Top Performances: Russell’s brilliance (49*, 3-22) diminishes SRH Playoffs bid
Washington Sundar’s eloquent all-round show goes in vain
SRH all-rounder Washington Sundar stood out as one of the best performers for the side, which unfortunately ended up being a show in a losing cause. He came in to bat when SRH were struggling at 87/4 in 13 overs and Sundar scored the much-needed runs required at that point.
The left-hander scored 25 runs off 19 deliveries, which comprised of 3 boundaries and a six at a strike rate of 131.58. While with the ball, he took 1/19 including the crucial wicket of the PBKS skipper Mayank Agarwal, who departed cheaply for just 1. Moreover, Sundar also took the catch of Shahrukh Khan, who was looking to go big but departed for 19 runs off 10 deliveries.
TATA IPL 2022 Points Table
What’s to Come
IPL 2022 now moves into the playoffs stage with the first Qualifier scheduled to be held at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on May 24. This game will be played between table-toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) and second-ranked Rajasthan Royals (RR).
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