IPL 2022, SRH vs PBKS, Top Performances: Bhuneshwar Kumar (3-22), Liam Livingstone’s 60 and Pooran-Markram 75-run stand are top performances.
Brief Scores: SRH 152-3 (Markram 41*, Pooran 35*, Tripathi 34, Chahar 28/2) beat PBKS 151 all-out (Livingstone 60, Shahrukh 26, Malik 28/4, Bhuvneshwar 22/3) by seven wickets
Player Of The Match – Umran Malik (4-28 & 2 Cathces)
Punjab Kings (PBKS) were up against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on Sunday afternoon.
Sunrisers skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to field first. Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal got hit on the toe in the last game, so he had to sit out of this game.
Prabhsimran Singh was included in place of Agarwal in Punjab’s playing eleven and Dhawan was made captain of Punjab for this encounter. Sunrisers kept their same eleven for this game as the previous match.
Sunrisers defeat Punjab by seven wickets
As Sunrisers put Punjab to bat first, Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran opened the innings for the latter. However, the openers couldn’t provide a good start to Punjab. After the openers lost their wickets, Punjab lost two more wickets as Jonny Bairstow and Jitesh Sharma failed to contribute much to the team score.
However, Liam Livingstone rescued their side by adding a fifty-run partnership with Shahrukh Khan. Punjab managed to post a total of 151 in 20 overs due to the phenomenal knock of Livingstone.
While chasing a modest target of 152 runs, Sunrisers lost their captain Williamson in the fourth over on a personal score of just three. Next batter Rahul Tripathi and opener Abhishek Sharma carried their side from thereon. However, after the wickets of Tripathi and Sharma, Aiden Markram and wicketkeeper batter Nicholas Pooran added 75 runs to help their side cross the finishing line.
On that note, let’s look at the top three performances from the game between SRH and PBKS.
Liam Livingstone became the saviour for Punjab Kings
When Punjab was put in to bat first by the opponents, they lost their openers Dhawan and Prabhsimran early in the innings. Also, they lost two more wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Jitesh Sharma in the first eight overs of the innings. Thus the onus fell on their in-form English all-rounder Liam Livingstone to rescue the side from a precarious position of 61 for four.
Liam Livingstone came to bat at two down for Punjab and immediately he started smashing bowlers out of the park. The 28-year-old batter clubbed one huge six over fine leg and two boundaries in an over bowled by left-arm pacer Marco Jansen. As Punjab lost four wickets, he stitched a vital partnership of 71 runs for the fifth wicket with Shahrukh Khan to bail out his side.
Livingstone dominated pacer Umran Malik by smashing a six and a boundary in an over bowled by the latter. Also, he brought up 100 runs for Punjab by striking a huge lofted drive for six over the long on boundary off left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith. After completing a 50-run stand with Shahrukh, Livingstone completed his third fifty in this season of IPL, off just 26 deliveries.
In the death overs, pacers Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar kept Livingstone quiet with accurate bowling. Livingstone tried to smack a boundary through the covers but Williamson grabbed his catch in the nineteenth over of the innings bowled by Bhuvneshwar. Livingstone made 60 runs off just 33 deliveries with the help of five boundaries and four astronomical sixes.
Read More: IPL 2022, SRH vs KKR, Top Performances: Tripathi 71, Markram 68* help SRH to third win
Bhuvneshwar Kumar bags three wickets to arrest Punjab’s total to 151
India pacer Bhuvneshwar has been the premier pacer of Sunrisers for several years now. After Sunrisers skipper Williamson opted to field first, Bhuvneshwar bowled a menacing spell to Punjab openers Dhawan and Prabhsimran. He dismissed Dhawan on a personal score of 8 in the third over of the game.
When Livingstone and Shahrukh weaved a 71-run partnership for the fifth wicket, Bhuvneshwar broke the partnership by bagging the wicket of Shahrukh on a personal score of 26.
Then Bhuvaneshar sent back the dangerous-looking Livingstone who could have taken the game away from Sunrisers with his extravagant hitting. After the wicket of Shahrukh, Punjab continued to lose wickets in succession and got all-out on a moderate total of 151.
On the other end, Umaran Malik who has been constantly bowling over 145 Kph in IPL 2022, reap the rewards of some fantastic bowling. Umran Malik takes 4-28 against Punjab Kings and receives player of the match. Umran records his maiden 4-fer in Indian Premier League (IPL).
Read More: IPL 2022, SRH vs GT, Top Performances: Williamson, Pooran help SRH chase 162; GT drop to 5th place
Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran helped their side to a seven wicket win
While chasing a moderate total of 152 runs, Sunrisers lost three wickets on 77 in 11 overs in the innings. Sunrisers have a comparatively weaker lower-order. If they had lost one or more wickets at that stage then the chase of 152 would have looked unattainable. However, Protea batter Markram and wicketkeeper batter Pooran batted sensibly against the Punjab bowlers. They added 75 runs for the fourth wicket in just 8.2 overs to help their side win the crucial game by seven wickets.
SRH now are at number four in the points table, a long way from the bottom of the stack after losing their initial two games.
IPL 2022 Points Table
What’s to come
Gujrat Titans are up against the Ravindra Jadeja-led Chennai Super Kings at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune in the second game on Super Sunday.
Read More: IPL 2022, MI vs PBKS, Top Performances: Mayank 52, Dhawan 70, Rabada’s 19th over prove fatal for MI
