IPL 2020, SRH v KXIP: Who won yesterday's match?
A heroic effort with the bat from Nicholas Pooran went in vain for the Kings XI Punjab as the Sunrisers Hyderabad picked up a 69-run win in the 22nd match of IPL 2020 at the Dubai International Stadium.
Needing to scale down a 202-run target, KXIP got off to a horrible start, with a mix-up between Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul sending the former back to the hut in the second over.
Debutant Prabhsimran Singh looked promising during his brief stay and collected a couple of boundaries before he middle a slash to Priyam Garg at covers and departed for an 8-ball 11.
Rahul was dismissed two overs later for a laborious 16-ball 11, and just as it seemed like the game was drifting away from KXIP, Pooran smashed Abdul Samad for 28 runs in 9th over and got his side back in the contest.
At the other end, Glenn Maxwell's struggles in IPL 2020 continued, and he was put out of his misery by a pin-point throw from Priyam Garg for a 12-ball 7 in the last ball of the 11th over.
Warner then turned to his trusted lieutenant Rashid Khan to remove Mandeep Singh and Pooran, and the Afghanistan star delivered. He first foxed Mandeep with a googly in the 13th over, and on the penultimate ball of his final over, forced a false shot from the West Indian southpaw that hammered the final nail in the coffin.
Post Pooran's dismissal for a 37-ball 77, it was only a matter of time before KXIP were bowled out, with the SRH bowlers taking just two more overs to clean out the tail.
Warner-Bairstow pair demolish KXIP
Earlier, SRH skipper David Warner won the toss and opted to bat, and the Hyderabad openers put on quite a show. Warner and Jonny Bairstow brought up their 100-run stand on the final ball of the 10th over, with the Englishman also getting to his half-century in just 28 balls in that very over.
Bairstow continued to pulverize the poor lines and lengths bowled by the KXIP bowlers, while Warner took the back seat and was happy to rotate the strike. At the end of the 15th over, SRH's scorecard read 160/0 as the two sides went into the timeout.
However, young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi struck on the first ball post the timeout as Warner holed out to Maxwell for a 42-ball 50. Three balls later, KXIP's successful review on an LBW call saw Bairstow walk back gingerly after a 55-ball 97.
From then on, SRH picked a wicket in every over as SRH crumbled from 165/0 to 187/5 with one over to go. Although it looked like Hyderabad would not cross the 200-run mark, a couple of blows from Kane Williamson saw the Warner-led side finish with 201/6 from 20 overs.
IPL 2020: SRH v KXIP, Who won man of the match yesterday?
After winning the toss, it was a question of whether SRH would put up a big score on the board to challenge the KXIP batting unit. The pressure was undoubtedly on Jonny Bairstow to perform, and the Englishman came to the party in style, slamming his second half-century of the tournament.
Bairstow looked ultra-positive right from the start of the innings, taking on the seamers and spinners with aplomb, and brought up his half-century off just 28 balls.
And, just as it looked that the SRH opener was primed to score his first century of IPL 2020, he was sent back in the 16th over after KXIP successfully overturned an LBW decision.
Eventually, Bairstow's 55-ball 97 laced with seven fours and six sixes laid the platform for a big score which was good enough to restrict KXIP. And, for his top knock, Jonny Bairstow was named as the Man of the Match in yesterday's IPL match.