Sunrisers Hyderabad won their first game of the Indian Premier League 2023 on Sunday (April 9), thanks in large part to a scorching half-century from Rahul Tripathi. They defeated Punjab Kings by eight wickets. Although though PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan had a magnificent innings on the night against his previous franchise, it wasn’t enough to save his side, and they ended up suffering their first loss of the season. Dhawan’s performance stole the show, but it wasn’t enough to save them from losing.
The powerplay in Punjab is in shambles.
As SRH were looking for their first win, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got them off to the perfect start by catching Prabhsimran Singh leg before wicket with the opening delivery of the match. It was then Marco Jansen’s chance to make an impression as he bowled IPL rookie Matthew Short leg before wicket in the following over. This was Short’s first wicket in the tournament. PBKS were dealt another blow when Jitesh Sharma was unable to clear the man at mid-on, which occurred when Dhawan continued coming down the wicket to the seamers in an effort to neutralize the swing. The shackles were eventually broken by Sam Curran in the final over of the powerplay, but PBKS still had a lot of work to do because they only scored 41 runs in the powerplay.
Markande crashes PBKS
Even once the powerplay was done, there was no break for PBKS to catch their breath. When Mayank Markande had the chance, he took advantage of it by bowling Curran out with a googly right before Impact Sub Sikandar Raza wasted his chance. When PBKS continued to fall, the score swiftly changed from 69/5 to 78/8, which was rather astonishing. Markande initially caught Shahrukh Khan with another googly before Umran Malik castled Harpreet Brar while Dhawan watched from the opposite end of the pitch. Googlies bowled by Markande got Rahul Chahar and Nathan Ellis out, putting an exclamation point on an already outstanding performance. After 15 overs, Punjab Kings were 88/9.
Hence, how did they come to the number 143?
by pulling off one of the most incredible comebacks that has ever been seen in the history of the IPL. The individual who was responsible for orchestrating everything ended up playing one of the most impressive knocks in the history of this sport. Dhawan brought up a fifty by delivering Natarajan to the deep midwicket stands and then immediately followed it up with a ramp shot that also went all the way. After that, he took on Umran and hit him for two more sixes as SRH began to progressively lose their hold on the match. Dhawan was able to keep the strike throughout each over thanks in large part to Mohit Rathee, who played an excellent supporting role. Dhawan then struck two more fours from Bhuvneshwar to move into the 90s in his score. He took guard in the last over, needing 9 for an unbelievable ton, but Natarajan stopped him with some terrific execution to prevent him from reaching the milestone. Dhawan continued to pass up singles, but he was able to conclude the innings by hitting the penultimate ball for a six and remain undefeated with 99 runs scored.
How did SRH get started in their pursuit?
After suffering two consecutive defeats, they decided it was time for some changes. As a direct consequence of this, the finisher, Harry Brook, who had been brought in, was used to start the inning. Despite the fact that he hit his countryman Curran for a four on the first ball, he was unable to score another run for the remainder of the over. He eventually took on Arshdeep Singh for back-to-back boundaries when he was batting on 5 from 9 but the left-arm bowler got his vengeance by bowling a knuckle ball that rearranged the stumps. Because of their vigilance, SRH were only able to score 34 runs during the powerplay after Brook was dismissed, which forced them to focus their shots on spin bowling throughout the middle overs.
Tripathi begins his round
Once he eliminated Mayank Agarwal, it appeared for a brief moment that Rahul Chahar and his team would have the upper hand going forward. Because there was a chance for a turn, scoring runs was not an easy task. Tripathi, on the other hand, who is famous for his capacity to keep the boundaries coming in the middle phase, steadily reversed the tide in their favor. Before taking on Rahul Chahar and Mohit Rathee, he started by getting his team to 67/2 at the midway point of the game by hitting five boundaries in the space of six balls. A six shot over long-on off Mohit assisted him in reaching his fifty, and he also took on the leggie once more in the 15th over, hammering him for 21 to put SRH in total control of the game.
Did the story take an unexpected turn at some point?
PBKS did not have anything in store for them in terms of a comeback of this kind with the ball, in contrast to their fantastic comeback with the bat in the last overs. PBKS needed to defend only 25 runs in the final five overs, and Tripathi and Aiden Markram worked together to make sure there were no glitches. When Tripathi came in and finished it off in style, Markram took on Ellis and hammered him for four boundaries in an over. Throughout the partnership, Markram was very much a spectator.
Where will these two go from here?
Despite the fact that SRH will be riding high after their first win of the season, they will have to keep their focus on the upcoming match against Kolkata Knight Riders. It won’t be simple to defeat KKR because they’ve won their past two games in spectacular fashion, so you need start preparing now. On the other side, the Punjab Kings will play at home against a Gujarat Titans team that has been hurt on April 13, a day before the match between SRH and KKR.
The brief scores are as follows: Punjab Kings 143/9 in 20 overs lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 145/2 in 17.1 overs (Rahul Tripathi 74, Aiden Markram 37; Arshdeep Singh 1/20) by 8 wickets. Shikhar Dhawan scored 99 not out for Punjab Kings. Mayank Markande took 4/15 and Marco Jansen took 2/16.
