They started brilliantly at the top with SunRisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner hitting a 40-ball 52 and Jonny Bairstow scoring a 55-ball 97 against Kings XI Punjab at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday. But the KXIP bowlers pulled things back as SRH finished with just 201 in the end as they lost wickets aplenty at the back end.
Head coach Trevor Bayliss did admit during the mid innings while speaking to the host broadcasters that the team should have ideally gotten another 10-15 runs considering the start that Warner and Bairstow gave the unit at the top. In the end, they managed just 41 in the backend, losing six wickets along the way.
KXIP though showed great spirit as they did not lose hope even as Warner and Bairstow looked in fine flow as they sent the Punjab bowlers on a leather hunt. While it was Warner who started the show, he took a slight backseat when Bairstow started to open up.
But once Ravi Bishnoi sent back Warner, caught by Glenn Maxwell, it was all KXIP as not just Bishnoi, but also Arshdeep Singh showed great character as the SRH batsmen failed to match up against the quality bowling from the Punjab unit.
In fact, Bishnoi had gone for 18 in his first over and head coach l Kumble was on air speaking to the host broadcasters. And Kumble did mention that he is a spirited youngster and he would come back strongly and that is exactly what he did as he ended with figures of 3/29 from his three overs.
He was well supported by Arshdeep who made perfect use of the slow wicket and mixed his variations to finish with two wickets from his four overs, giving away 33 runs. In the end, Kane Williamson finished with an unbeaten 20 off 10 balls as SRH went past the 200-run mark.
( With inputs from ANI )
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