The Punjab Kings (PBKS) defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their final group stage match on May 22 at Mumbai’s legendary Wankhede Stadium (Sunday). The Orange Army gave it their utmost to battle with the Punjab Kings, but PBKS was superior in every category and easily won the match.
In absence of Kane Williamson, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the SRH captain, won the toss and chose to bat first. Priyam Garg, a young batsman, was out early, but Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi attempted to steady the SRH innings. However, none of the SRH batsmen were able to convert the early starts, and they were dismissed for 157/8 in their 20 overs.
Nathan Ellis and Harpreet Brar, both express pacers for PBKS, both took three key wickets. While Kagiso Rabada, the South African paceman, took one wicket but gave up 38 runs in his four-over quota. Arshdeep Singh and Liam Livingstone, both left-arm pacers, did not take any wickets but bowled economically.
In response, PBKS hitters charged the Orange Army with all guns blazing as PBKS got off to a great start with to Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan. Shahrukh Khan, Liam Livingstone, and Jitesh Sharma completed the remaining work.
Washington Sundar, Jagadeesha Suchith, and Umran Malik all took one wicket each for SRH. Fazalhaq Farooqi, a left-arm pacer, was the standout of the SRH bowlers, taking two wickets each of Bairstow and Dhawan.
While Harpreet Brar, the left-arm spinner, was named Player of the Match for his crucial performance. With the final group stage game of IPL 2022 completed, Punjab Kings finished in the sixth spot in the points table. Meanwhile, SRH ended their campaign at 8th spot in the league table with 12 points in 14 games.
IPL 2022: PBKS defeated SRH by 5 wickets
After the match the winning captain Mayank Agarwal said
“It’s going to be sore, probably going for an X-ray now. They never expected a no-ball, so he wasn’t ready. I asked him (Malik) whether he was wearing a protective gear and he shouldn’t get hurt.”
“We have played an aggressive brand of cricket over all. We are going to sit and discuss now after the IPL. We were here to get two points and we were here to enjoy ourselves.”
Meanwhile, the losing skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar said
“Good feeling (on being the captain), but it would have been better if we had won the match. I think we were a lot of runs short (with them winning with 5 overs left), but we had to field better, didn’t take our chances and there were fumbles, but this was the last match of the season and that does have an effect.”
“As for me, it was a challenging season with injuries hampering me, thought I did a decent job and will look to come back better in the next season.”
It is now time for the Playoffs which will see Gujarat Titans locking horns with Rajsthan Royals on 24th May, Tuesday.
