IPL 2023, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) vs Punjab Kings (PBKS): Mayank Markande's 4-15, Shikhar Dhawan's 99, Rahul Tripathi's 74 are top performances. SRH beat Punjab Kings and register first victory of the season.
Brief Scores: SRH 145/2 (Rahul Tripathi 74 not out, Aiden Markram’s 37 not out, Arshdeep Singh’s 1/20) beat PBKS 143/9 (Shikhar Dhawan 99 not out, Mayank Markande 4/15) by 8 wickets.
Player of the match: Shikhar Dhawan (99 off 66)
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are looking for their first win when they take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) at their home ground in Hyderabad in IPL 2023. They have already lost their first two games in the competition. PBKS, on the other hand, have posted two wins out of two games. SRH have enjoyed a great run at home in the past, while PBKS would look to build on the early momentum they have gained so far in the competition.
Punjab’s batting weakness was exposed in the loss against SRH by eight wickets. It clearly exposed the lack of experience and an anchor in the middle order. With experienced foreign stars Liam Livingstone and Bhanuka Rajapaksa missing because of various reasons, Punjab’s middle order has been devoid of a world-class experience to anchor the innings.
Aussie Matthew Short falls for 1 in the match and needs more opportunities to get familiar with the rigours of IPL. Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe has the potential but failed again to convert the start. Currently, Punjab's middle order consists of Indian youngsters Shahrukh Khan and Jitesh Sharma. They both lack international experience and have not delivered to their potential in the tournament. Unless Punjab Kings sort this weakness out, their campaign will struggle to gain the necessary momentum.
Captain Dhawan leads from the front
PBKS had a horrifying start to their innings when Bhuvneshwar Kumar had opener Prabhsimran Singh LBW on the first ball of the innings. Soon, it was 10/2 as Marco Jansen had Matthew Short out plumb for 1. Sam Curran then gave some hope to resurrect PBKS innings in the company of skipper Dhawan. The two put up a stand of 41 runs for the fourth wicket before Curran mistimed a slog to Bhuvi off Mayank Markande’s bowling. Wickets kept tumbling at the other end even as Dhawan stood tall amid the ruins. Batting with the last batsman Mohit Rathee with the score reading 88/9, Dhawan farmed most of the strike and went after the bowling to add few valuable runs to the total. He and Rathee posted an unbeaten stand of 55 runs in 5 overs, the latter contributing just one run. Dhawan smashed a six off the last ball of the innings to remain unbeaten on 99 off 66 balls with 12 fours and 5 sixes.
Tripathi guides the chase
SRH began the chase of 144 on a cautious note, reaching 27 before Arshdeep Singh bowled Harry Brook for 13. The other opener Mayank Agarwal too fell soon for 21 holing out in the deep to Curran off Rahul Chahar’s bowling. Post these twin losses, SRH took control of the chase, thanks to Rahul Tripathi’s half-century. After a slow start, Tripathi showed urgency to score runs while captain Aiden Markram gave good support at the other end. SRH bowlers could not create many chances as Tripathi-Markram batted sensibly to take SRH home to register their first win. Tripathi scored 74 not out, while Markram remained unbeaten on 37.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between SRH and PBKS in IPL 2023
Dhawan’s 99 not out
It’s not easy to keep calm when wickets falling regularly at the other end. But Shikhar Dhawan was all cool and composed. He first tried to resurrect the innings in the company of Sam Curran, playing risk-free cricket. But after Curran fell, none of the other batter showed any application to stay put at the wicket. Finally, batting with the last batsman Rathee, Dhawan threw caution to the wind and went after the bowling. However, the beauty of his knock was that there were no slogs, just pure cricketing shots, playing ball to its merit, and even innovating to find gaps.
Few of the shots from Dhawan were outstanding, especially the one where he improvised to play a drive between two short third-man fielders to collect a boundary. He also used Umran Malik’s pace in the death to hit a couple of huge sixes. His knock of 99* in a total of 143/9 was close to 70% of the team’s total, while his stand of 55 runs for the 10th wicket showed his great game awareness.
Mayank Markande’s 4/15
Stage was set for leg-spinner Markande to reap the rewards after SRH medium-pacers had PBKS struggling at 22/3. Anticipating Curran to step down, Markande bowled a little short, managing to get a mishit from the Englishman to Bhuvi. He mixed his deliveries well, keeping the opposition batter guessing where the ball will turn next. A brilliant googly from him saw big-hitter M Shahrukh Khan failing to read, and getting out LBW.
Markande then got his third wicket of Rahul Chahar. Markande made Chahar play four dot balls before the latter lost his patience and went for a big slog and missed it completely to be out LBW. Nathan Ellis then gifted his wicket to Markande, getting bowled to an inside edge. Overall, it was a smart and clever bowling from Markande.
Rahul Tripathi’s 74 not out
Rahul Tripathi batted exceedingly well to take SRH home. He was a tad slow to start, but once got adjusted to the pace of the wicket, he started unleashing his full range of strokes. He used his legs effectively against spinners to cream the most boundaries and sixes against them. He was especially harsh on leg-spinner Rathee, creaming him for 2 fours and a six in the 15th over. Tripathi didn’t spare Rahul Chahar either. In the 10th over, bowled by left-arm orthodox spinner Harpreet Brar, Tripathi cracked three straight fours to set the momentum of the chase. The lofted shot off Brar over extra cover was easily the shot of the match coming from Tripathi’s bat.
Read More: IPL 2023: Markram won Sunrisers Eastern Cape the SA 20 title; will he bring SRH an IPL trophy?
Points Table Scenario & What's Next
SRH posted their first win in three games and have moved to eight in the points table. PBKS posted their first loss in 3 games, and are placed 6th with four points. SRH will now face KKR on April 14, while PBKS will take on Gujarat Titans on April 13.
IPL 2023 Points Table
Comments