After David Warner struck a blistering knock of 81, bowlers came to the fore to help Hyderabad beat Punjab by 45 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Telangana on Monday.
Asked to bat first, Warner pulled back a 57-ball 81, including seven boundaries and two sixes, besides also sharing a half-century stand with Wriddhiman Saha (28) and Manish Pandey (36) in his final match of this season to help Hyderabad post a huge score of 212 for 6.
In reply, KL Rahul's 79-run knock went in vain as Khaleel Ahmed (3 for 40), Rashid Khan (3 for 21) and Sandeep Sharma (2 for 33) help Hyderabad restrict Punjab 167/8 in their stipulated 20 overs.
Here are the latest updates:
# Hyderabad beat Punjab by 45 runs. Punjab 167/8 (20 overs)
# Murugan Ashwin is the new batsman in!
# WICKET! Ahmed struck again to bag a big wicket of KL Rahul (79). The Indian batsman smashed the second delivery of the 19th over near mid-off, only to see Hyderabad skipper Williamson grab a lovely catch. Punjab 165/6 (19 overs)
# Punjab added another 12 runs off the last over. They now need 56 runs off 12 balls. Punjab 157/5 (18 overs)
# 22 runs off the last two overs, including two sixes and a boundary. Rahul and Singh are currently batting at their respective scores of 74 and three, with Punjab now needing 68 more runs from 18 balls. Punjab 145/5 (17 overs)
# FIFTY! KL Rahul continues his good show with the bat as he brought up a half-century off just 38 balls. He achieved the feat by pulling the second delivery of the 14th over over deep square leg for six runs. Punjab 123/5 (15 overs)
# Prabhsimran Singh is the new batsman in!
# WICKET! Rashid Khan struck twice to remove Miller (11) and Ashwin (duck). While Miller was caught by Vijay Shankar at deep midwicket off the fifth delivery of the 13th over, while Ashwin was taken by Manish Pandey at long-on. Punjab 107/5 (13 overs)
# David Miller is the new batsman in!
# WICKET! Khaleel Ahmed strikes again. Nicholas Pooran was caught by Bhuvneshwar Kumar at long leg. Punjab need 117 more runs from 54 balls. Punjab 96/3 (11 overs)
# Nicholas Pooran is the new batsman in!
# WICKET! Rashid Khan strikes for Hyderabad. Rahul (27) tried to slog-sweep the fourth delivery of the ninth over, but ended up handing a catch to Vijay Shankar at cow corner. Punjab 71/2 (9 overs)
# Punjab have added 19 runs off the last two overs, including two boundaries. Ashwin's side now need 150 runs from 12 overs. Punjab 63/1 (8 overs)
# 10 runs off the last two overs for Punjab. Rahul (26) continues to stand strong at the crease and is looking for support from Agarwal (11) from the other end. Punjab now need 169 runs from 14 overs. Punjab 44/1 (6 overs)
# Sandeep Sharma comes into the attack!
# Mayank Agarwal is the new batsman in!
# WICKET! Khaleel Ahmed strikes for Hyderabad. Gayle (4) smashed the first delivery from the Hyderabad bowler over cover off the back foot, only to see Manish Pandey take a superb catch. Punjab 11/1 (2.1 overs)
# 11 runs off the first two overs. Rahul got off the mark by nudging the fourth delivery off the pads towards square leg for a single, while Gayle opened his account by hitting the fifth delivery towards cover for four runs. Punjab 11/0 (2 overs)
# Chris Gayle and KL Rahul have walked down the crease to begin Punjab's chase. Khaleel Ahmed opens the attack for Hyderabad.
# Innings Break!
# Hyderabad post huge 213-run target for Punjab. Hyderabad 212/6 (20 overs)
# WICKET! Mohammad Shami struck twice to remove Kane Williamson and Mohammad Nabi for 14 and 20, respectively. While the Hyderabad skipper was caught by Murugan Ashwin at cover off the second delivery of the 19th over, Nabi was bowled out by Shami off the fourth delivery. Hyderabad 202/5 (19 overs)
# Kane Williamson and Mohammad Nabi are currently batting at the crease!
# WICKET! Ravichandran Ashwin struck twice to remove Manish Pandey and David Warner for 26 and 81, respectively. While Pandey was caught by Mohammed Shami at short fine leg off the third delivery of the 16th over, Warner was taken by Mujeeb Ur Rahman off the final ball of the over. With this, a huge 82-run stand comes to an end. Hyderabad 163/3 (16 overs)
# Warner (63) has brought up his eighth half-century of the IPL off just 38 balls. He achieved the feat by guiding the second delivery of the 12th over to the third man boundary. Besides fifty, the Australian has also brought up a 50-run stand with Manish Pandey (28) for the second wicket. Hyderabad 134/1 (13 overs)
# 15 runs off the last two overs. While Warner continues to stand strong and is approaching towards his half-century, Manish Pandey has also made a positive start to his innings by scoring 20 off 16 balls. Hyderabad 112/1 (11 overs)
# Manish Pandey is the new batsman in!
# WICKET! Murugan Ashwin gave the much-needed breakthrough to Punjab by removing Saha for 28. Ashwin bowled a length delivery on middle as Saha missed an attempted drag-pull for debutant Prabhsimran Singh to take a sharp low catch behind the wicket. Hyderabad 78/1 (6.2 overs)
# Meanwhile, this is the best Powerplay score of IPL 2019.
# Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin comes into the attack!
# Mohammad Shami called into the attack!
# Warner (26) and Saha (15) have brought up a 50-run stand for the opening wicket. The duo guided the side to a half-century mark when the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman went down on one knee and played a fine sweep for a fine-leg boundary. Hyderabad 50/0 (4 overs)
# Mujeeb Ur Rahman conceded 10 runs to Hyderabad before Arshdeep bowled another expensive over, giving away 15 runs to the hosts. Saha opened his account by flicking the third delivery of the second over off his toes to deep midwicket for two runs before Warner pulled an inside-out drive over long off for the first maximum of the match. Hyderabad 35/0 (3 overs)
# 10 runs off the very first over. Warner got off the mark by flicking the third delivery of the over past the wicketkeeper for a boundary before he once again smashed Arshdeeo for four runs off the fifth ball. Hyderabad 10/0 (1 over)
# David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha have walked down the crease to begin Hyderabad's innings. Arshdeep Singh to open the attack for Punjab.
# While Punjab have handed an IPL debut to Prabhsimran Singh, Mujeeb Ur Rahman has been called back into the Playing XI. Hyderabad, on the other hand, have made three changes. Kane Williamson's side have brought in Abhishek Sharma, Mohammad Nabi and Sandeep Sharma.
# Lineups:
Punjab: KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, David Miller, Nicholas Pooran, Prabhsimran Singh, R Ashwin, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammed Shami, M Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh
Hyderabad: David Warner, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma
# Punjab win the toss, opt to bowl first against Hyderabad!
# The toss is all set to take place in a few minutes.
Swashbuckling batsman David Warner, who is currently leading the run-scorers list in the ongoing 2019 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), will look to end his campaign on a high when his side Hyderabad lock horns with Ravichandran Ashwin-led Punjab at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Telangana on Monday.
Following Punjab's clash, Warner will head back home to join his teammates Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis in Australia's preparation for the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup which is slated to take place from May 30 to July 14.
Coming on the back of two back-to-back defeats at the hands of Chennai and Rajasthan respectively, Hyderabad will look to rebound strongly and get back to winnings ways with just two games left in hand ahead of playoffs.
Punjab, on the other hand, are too heading into the clash after slumping to back-to-back defeats against Delhi and Rajasthan, respectively.
Ashwin's side will now go into the match aiming to be more consistent in winning key moments of the game in order to stay alive their chances of making it to the playoffs.
Both teams have won five out of 11 matches they have played in the Indian T20 league so far. However, Hyderabad is placed at the fourth position, while Punjab is languishing down at the sixth spot due to net run rate.
The squad is as follows:
Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (captain), Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Shreevats Goswami, Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, David Warner, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan, Wriddhiman Saha, Martin Guptill, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem.
Punjab: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin (C), Andrew Tye, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Karun Nair, Moises Henriques, Varun Chakravarthi, Harpreet Brar, Simran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Hardus Viljoen, Ankit Rajpoot, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi.
