IPL 2021: Sunrisers Hyderabad out from playoff race as bowlers steer Punjab Kings to a five-wicket victory

IPL 2021: Sunrisers Hyderabad out from playoff race as bowlers steer Punjab Kings to a five-wicket victory

Sunrisers Hyderabad

The 37th match of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) saw the bottom-placed teams Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad playing against each other at the Sharjah Cricket Ground. The game between the two sides was a nail-biting affair as it went down the wire. 

However, in the end, it was Punjab Kings who had the last laugh as they managed to keep their calm in a pressure situation. Put to bat first, Punjab Kings were mediocre were with the willow. There was a horrific collapse of the batting line-up as they ended up with just 125 runs on the scoreboard.

No Punjab batter touched even 30 runs and almost all the players lost their wicket after getting a good start. Jason Holder was the man who helped Sunrisers gain momentum halfway through the match. The veteran picked three crucial wickets including the likes of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and Deepak Hooda. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad out from the playoff race

Sunrisers Hyderabad
Punjab Kings

After the first innings, SRH were deemed as the favorites to win the game. Chasing 126 at Sharjah which has a shorter boundary and nothing to offer to the bowlers wasn’t a difficult task. Hyderabad have only themselves to blame as they showed no intent with the willow. 

The team looked out of touch in the second innings as no batter apart from Jason Holder tried to win the match. SRH faced early hiccups as Mohammed Shami dismissed David Warner and Kane Williamson. The same was followed by timely wickets and a poor run rate. 

Holder tried to add life to the game by smashing not out 47 off 29. However, no support from the other batters meant that the team lost the game by five runs. Meanwhile, the credit also goes to Punjab bowlers for keeping their calm and hardly giving anything to the opposition. 

Ravi Bishnoi was the wrecker-in-chief as he picked three wickets while Shami also had two under his belt. With the loss, SRH has now quashed all the chances of them making it to the second stage of the competition. 

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