The way with which the Sunrisers Hyderabad have carried themselves this season has been exemplary. The strength of a team lies within its ability to cope up with losses. In that regard, so far, SRH have been sublime as they have always bounced back from defeats in this year’s IPL.
After losing against to the Delhi Daredevils in their last game, the Sunrisers pulled themselves back strongly with a telling win against the Kings XI Punjab.
This win puts them in firm position to finish the league round on top of the group and all but confirms their place in the play-offs. However, playing in the play-off is a whole different ball game and it would be interesting to see how they cope up with the pressure of it.
There were plenty of memorable moments from the match that don't fade away, quite like the Axe Signature range of body perfumes. Here are 5 of the best:
1) Amla has finally arrived
The title might suggest that he has just come from South Africa to play in the IPL when, in fact, that isn’t the case. He has already played in 4 IPL games this season, but it wasn’t the latest one that we saw the true class of Hashim Amla.
While he comes off as someone who is a Test player rather than a T20 one, because of his exceptional technique, he is an equally good player in all formats—and a look at his stats suggest just that.
Against the Sunrisers, he showed his wrath with the bat as he scored 96 runs off just 56 balls, an innings which gave Punjab the perfect platform to score a big score—which the middle-order couldn’t make the best use of.
2) Miller’s finish
Hashim Amla played a gem of an innings. It was classy and brutal at the same time. However, in terms of scoring rate, he wasn't backed by anyone else and it seemed like Punjab would post an underwhelming score after the great start—until David Miller came in and did what he is best known for.
At the time of his arrival, the Kings were batting at 152/3 after 17.2 overs. In the next 16 balls, however, Punjab scored 27 runs. Not much, but the fact that David Miller scored 20 of those runs in just 9 balls is what took the score a bit more than what was expected.
3) David Warner’s consistency
This IPL has seen a plethora of openers batting with brilliant consistency. Be it Virat Kohli or Ajinkya Rahane, almost every big name opener has had a fine tournament and David Warner is no different.
If it weren’t for the unreal Virat Kohli, David Warner might as well have ended the tournament with the Orange Cap on his head. Still, he just might end up with it if the Royal Challengers don’t make it to the play-offs.
Chasing 180, Warner got his team off a flying start with a well made 51 off 42 balls, which was slower than how he normally goes about his batting but provided a great start to the team nonetheless.
4) Yuvraj Singh is back
One of the most beautiful sights in cricket is watching Yuvraj Singh bat at his brilliant best.
And when this man is in form, it usually ends up with his team lifting the trophy of that given tournament—the T20 World Cup of 2007 and the 2011 World Cup works as a perfect testament to that fact.
Against his former team, he turned back the years with some delightful sixes as his 24-ball 42 raced his team to the target with relative ease.
5) Ben Cutting is here to stay
After a dismal outing in his debut game, Ben Cutting was brought back to the playing XI in place of Kane Williamson. This was his opportunity to permanently dispatch his Kiwi rival off the team—and he has perhaps done it.
In the first innings, he bowled 7 balls and returned with figures of 11 runs without getting a wicket. It seemed like he was in for yet another terrible game, but he turned the tide with the bat.
While Yuvraj Singh was batting at his best, Ben Cutting joined the party and helped his team-mate with a blistering knock of 18 in just 11 balls—helping SRH win the game with 2 balls remaining.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
