IPL 2017: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kings XI Punjab, Player Ratings
Rajiv Gandhi International stadium witnessed one of the games of the season which included arguably the two best individual performances of the season thus far. Sunrisers Hyderabad faced Kings XI Punjab and the former emerged victorious by a close margin of five runs.
Both teams were coming on the back of disappointing results and needed a win to get back to winning ways.
Punjab invited Hyderabad to bat but the hosts had to toil hard to reach a competitive total. The second innings saw Manan Vohra playing his most important knock in the IPL as he hit 95 from 50 balls but fell just short of taking his team home.
Standing in his way was Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took five wickets and conceded just 19 runs to win it for his side. On that note, here are the player ratings for the exhilarating match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab:
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Shikhar Dhawan - 5/10
Punjab bowled the first six overs of the innings really well and conceded just 29 runs in the power play. In order to up the ante, Dhawan decided to pull a short delivery from Mohit Sharma and edged it towards the keeper. On the field, he dropped a crucial catch of Manan Vohra in the 17th over which could have proved to be very costly for his side.
David Warner - 8/10
The captain played a gem of a knock and stayed in the middle for entire 20 overs. He started slow but began the onslaught when spinners started bowling in tandem. He scored a brilliant 70 runs from 54 balls, his fifth consecutive fifty against the Kings XI Punjab.
Moises Henriques - 6/10
The Australian all-rounder never looked settled against Axar Patel and KC Cariappa as even after spending enough time in the middle, he could not shift gears like Warner did. He was stumped on the bowling of Axar but took his revenge when he got him out caught, leaving Punjab's batting in tatters.
Yuvraj Singh - 2/10
After a useful knock against the Knight Riders, Yuvraj failed miserably against the Kings, scored a golden duck and lost his wicket to Axar Patel. His only meaningful contribution in the game was when he saved one run for his team with a brilliant dive in the outfield to save a certain boundary from Manan Vohra.
Naman Ojha - 7/10
Ojha had not performed to the expectations this season but played an important knock against Punjab as he formed an important partnership with Warner to take the score to 159. His quickfire 34 consisted of two boundaries and one humongous six.
Deepak Hooda - 5/10
The youngster could not do much with the bat and never looked at his usual destructive best. He was caught in the deep when he tried to change gears. A disappointing outing for the talented batsman.
Mohammad Nabi - 8/10
Getting his first start of the season, Nabi started his spell with an expensive over but wrecked havoc in the next three. He bowled Eoin Morgan in his next over with a skidded delivery and should have had two as he dropped a sitter in his final over.
Rashid Khan - 8/10
It was the first time this season that Rashid Khan was expensive, but it was more down to the genius of Vohra than his own fault. Though he finished his spell with an expensive over, he still took two wickets in his second when he castled David Miller and Wriddhiman Saha in consecutive balls to leave Punjab reeling at 62/5.
Also Read: SK Turning Point, Rashid Khan strikes after receiving a sound thrashing
Bhuvneshwar Kumar - 10/10
In his first spell, Kumar bundled Amla out lbw on the first ball of the innings and then took the all-important wicket of Glen Maxwell on a slower delivery. He then came back in the 17th over to first dismiss Mohit Sharma and then Cariappa.
His most important scalp came in the second last over when he took his fifth and also secured the win for Sunrisers after getting Vohra plumb leg before wicket.
Barinder Sran - 5/10
In his first game of the season, Sran looked nervous and was not able to bowl at proper lengths. He was given just two overs, where he gave away 29 runs. He needs to perform better if he wants to keep Ashish Nehra out of the team.
Siddharth Kaul - 8/10
Given the responsibility of bowling the 18th and the 20th over, Kaul proved to be worthy of the task and bowled some brilliant yorkers to stop Punjab from attempting big hits. He finished the game with yet another yorker, taking Ishant Sharma's off stump out of the park.
Kings XI Punjab
Hashim Amla - 1/10
A match to forget for the South African veteran as he was deceived by a straight delivery from Kumar on the very first ball of the second innings. Punjab needed a mature player to see out this game but Amla failed to live up to his name.
Manan Vohra - 10/10
Even though he could not win the match for his side, Vohra's innings will be remembered for being one of the best back-against-the-wall kind of knocks. He hit his shots cleanly as ever and read Rashid Khan's googly to perfection which helped him take the Afghanistani bowler to the cleaners.
Glen Maxwell - 3/10
The captain promoted himself to number three against the Sunrisers but could not change the momentum in the power play. He struck two boundaries but was bundled out by a slower one by Kumar.
Eoin Morgan - 5/10
After spending close to five overs in the middle, a better performance was expected from the England international but he failed yet again. He was clean bowled by Nabi and Morgan's horror show with the bat continued.
David Miller - 2/10
Another disappointing game for Miller as he got out on a simple straight delivery by Khan. The South African misread the length and could not sort himself out before seeing his leg stump castled by the leggie. The only positive for Miller in this match was his well-timed catch of Mohammad Nabi in the final over.
Wriddhiman Saha - 5/10
He was bundled out by Khan on his second delivery and his bad run with the bat continued. His glove work was dependable as usual but he needs to bat up the order to make some sort of an impact.
Axar Patel - 8/10
Though he could not replicate his batting exploits from the last game, he made up for that with his bowling against the Sunrisers. He took two important wickets of Henriques and Yuvraj on consecutive deliveries which helped Punjab get back into the game.
Mohit Sharma - 7/10
Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for his side as he kept it simple and straight on a slow deck. He conceded just 25 runs in his four-over quota and took the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan and Deepak Hooda.
KC Cariappa - 3/10
David Warner decided to take Cariappa on and a number of reverse sweeps saw him getting milked for runs. When he came on to bat, he had a simple job of giving the strike to Vohra, but he decided to slog every ball and wasted five deliveries in the crucial last few overs of the game.
Ishant Sharma - 7/10
Ishant Sharma concede just 23 runs in his four overs. He took full use of the slow nature of the pitch and made it tough for the Sunrisers to get going in the power play.
Sandeep Sharma - 5/10
Sandeep proved to be expensive and missed his line on more than one occasion in his final two overs. Warmer took full use of that as he hit him for a massive 20 run last over.