Bairstow, Rashid shine in SRH’s thumping win over KXIP
Dubai: In-form Jonny Bairstow hammered a quickfire 97 off 55 balls and leg-spinner Rashid Khan bagged three for 12 to steer SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) to a massive 69-run win over a listless Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Thursday night.
After putting up a challenging 201/6 wickets in 20 overs on winning the toss, SRH rode their bowlers’ clinical effort to gun down their opponents, bowling them for 132 in 16.5 overs at the Dubai International Cricket stadium.
Khan was the chief architect of SRH’s win after returning with his miserly figures while Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan, too, rose to the occasion and picked two wickets each.
KXIP suffered a batting collapse as even their in-form batters KL Rahul (11) and Mayank Agarwal (9) fell cheaply. Nicholas Pooran tried his best to defy SRH bowlers with his 37-ball 77, but he didn’t get support from the other end, as SRH bowlers rattled the KXIP’s batting line-up.
Pooran’s knock was decorated with seven massive hits and five boundaries.The KL Rahul-led KXIP ultimately folded up for 132.
Earlier, opting to bat, SRH rode opener Jonny Bairstow’s blistering knock along with skipper David Warner’s valuable 52 off 40 balls to post a decent 201/6 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
The duo was also involved in a crucial 160-run partnership for the opening wicket. While Bairstow’s innings was laced with seven boundaries and six sixes, Warner’s knock contained five boundaries and a hit into the stands.
Ravi Bishnoi picked three wickets in quick succession to reduce SRH to 173/4. SRH’s middle-order once again collapsed even as Kane Willamson and Abhishek Sharma chipped in with unbeaten 20 and 12 runs respectively to help their side finish things at 201/6.
For KXIP, Bishnoi picked three wickets for 29 runs while Arshdeep Singh settled with two. With this, KXIP suffered their fifth defeat in six matches.
Brief Scores: SRH 201/6 wkts in 20 overs (D Warner 52, J Bairstow 97; Ravi Bishnoi 3/29) beat KXIP 132 all out in 16.5 overs (N Pooran 77, KL Rahul 11; Rashid Khan 3/12) by 69 runs