Kings XI Punjab handed Sunrisers Hyderabad their first defeat of IPL 2018 as the hosts won their final home game in Mohali by 15 runs on Thursday (April 19).
Kings XI Punjab innings was led by a brilliant Chris Gayle hundred, which finally lead them to victory.
Gayle, After sitting out in two opening matches, followed up his 63 in the previous appearance with his sixth IPL century to leave the visitors with a mammoth 194-run target.
The West Indian totally batted SRH out of the contest. Mohit Sharma and Andrew Tye’s double strike ensured KXIP completed a hat-trick of victories at their home ground, confining SRH to the second spot.
For SRH Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey hit fifties, but that dint lead SRH to victory.
SRH’s batting is heavily reliant on Shikhar Dhawan and KXIP exposed the main key in SHR’s armory. SRH definitely don’t want this performance to become a trend in their upcoming matches.
They have surely won all their matches batting second but the scores they were chasing were in the range of 150 and their victories had much to do with fearsome bowling. Also the two out of three chases were final over finishes.
They’re without David Warner and have lacked the firepower at top that can help them to explosive starts.
Without Shikhar Dhawan who retired hurt, copping a blow to his left hand, SRH were never in the game.
Pathan and Saha failed to get going and their efforts were not good enough as SRH were left playing catch up.
The margin of 15 runs could be flattering, and Williamson and Manish Pandey’s fifties could only ensure against a drastic fall in net run rate.
Brief scores:
Kings XI Punjab 193/3 in 20 overs (Chris Gayle 104*, Karun Nair 31; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 25-1) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 178/4 in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 57* Kane Williamson 54; Andrew Tye 2-23, Mohit Sharma 2-51) by 15 runs.
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