‘Unstoppable Hyderabad’ – Fourth consecutive win pushes Hyderabad into top four

Punjab faced Hyderabad in the 28^th match of the Indian T20 League 2022 at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Both the teams came into the competition with a win in their last match and fought hard to carry their momentum forward.

Hyderabad won the toss and decided that they will have a bowl first. Punjab’s biggest pillar of the top order Shikhar Dhawan (8 off 11) was dismissed early in the third over of the innings. This gave the batting order a shock from which they took time to recover. In the first half of their innings, their progress was rocky as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They were 61 for 4 down within the eighth over of the innings. Liam Livingstone however, continued with his brilliant form and was playing another counter-attacking knock.  Shahrukh Khan supported him very well as the duo put together a partnership of 71 runs and took Punjab towards a respectable total.

Shahrukh (26 off 28) was dismissed in the 17^th over of the innings when the team score was 132 runs. Liam Livingstone was the sixth wicket to fall for Punjab after he scored a brilliant 60 off 33 balls. He hit 5 fours and 4 sixes in his innings and was the man who was holding the Punjab batting effort together. After his dismissal, Punjab experienced a dramatic collapse as the next four wickets fell in the last over of the innings without a run being added to the total. Umran Malik bowled an unreal last over, where he did not concede a single run and picked up three wickets. Punjab was restricted to a score of 151 runs from their 20 overs, a total that looked just par on the pitch.

Despite losing the big wicket of Kane Williamson early in the fourth over, Hyderabad made a steady start to their chase. Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi looked composed in the middle as they added 48 runs for the second wicket. Tripathi was dismissed in the 9^th over of the innings for 34 runs off 22 deliveries by Rahul Chahar. Abhishek Sharma followed Tripathi in a gap of two overs after he has scored 31 runs off 25 deliveries. With Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran out in the middle, the men in orange were looking to get their chase back on track that had suffered the loss of two quick wickets.

The duo in Markram and Pooran looked cool and composed. They kept the scoreboard ticking and continued steadily. by the end of the 15th over of the innings Hyderabad was 111 for 3, and required 41 runs from 30 deliveries. With Markram  (41 off 27) and Pooran 35 off 30) in the crease and five more wickets in hand, it was advantage Hyderabad. They stayed till the end and ensured a comfortable victory for Hyderabad. The men in orange won the match by seven wickets with 7 balls remaining. This is their fourth in the season out of 6 matches.

https://twitter.com/harbhajan_singh/status/1515663218709999618?s=20&t=Mlt39k-D55CvpKF54Ffh7g

What a gem #UmranMalik
Its your #IPL2022
hope to see you soon for #TeamIndia
But lets not forget to give credit to @IrfanPathan coz its "khoj mere bhai ki"#PBKSvSRH pic.twitter.com/HeqLGn3c6V

— Munaf Patel (@munafpa99881129) April 17, 2022

https://twitter.com/Cricketracker/status/1515658179341742084?s=20&t=Mlt39k-D55CvpKF54Ffh7g

https://twitter.com/SunRisers/status/1515686904901304324?s=20&t=d0m-4tWci9d2i4AsWFjeWg

https://twitter.com/ESPNcricinfo/status/1515687304236761095?s=20&t=d0m-4tWci9d2i4AsWFjeWg

https://twitter.com/irbishi/status/1515687201740566529?s=20&t=d0m-4tWci9d2i4AsWFjeWg

Tremendous all round performance by #SRH. Punjab batting stuttered badly in second half of the innings, scoring about 20 fewer than seemed likely, which made the run chase easier. SRH now top of the table and looking irrepressible

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 17, 2022

https://twitter.com/harbhajan_singh/status/1515688350035984385?s=20&t=d0m-4tWci9d2i4AsWFjeWg

Hyderabad has reached number 4 at points table, but has same number of points as of number 1 team. #SRH

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 17, 2022