IPL 2018, SRH vs KXIP: Hits and Misses

After being put into bat, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting once again disappointed as they put up a poor show against Kings XI Punjab. Ankit Rajpoot was magnificent as he sent the SRH top three packing early in the powerplay. After the early setback, SRH never got going as they struggled their way to 132.

Manish Pandey did score a half-century but he was scratchy as well. KXIP were very sloppy in the field as they dropped a lot of catches in the outfield and hence that played a big role in SRH getting over 130.

Chasing an under-par total, KXIP once again got off to a good start as KL Rahul and Chris Gayle shared their fourth successive 50-plus opening stand. However, it was a stunning collapse from KXIP as they lost all their 10 wickets for just 65 runs (from 55/0 to 119 all out). It was once again a top effort from the SRH bowlers as they defended a low score for the second time in three days.

This was SRH’s fifth win and they move the second in the points table with 10 points from 7 games.

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#5 Hit: Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan was once again brilliant

“You don’t learn till you get hit. It’s a part of the game. Giving away 55 and 48 runs in the last two games helped me learn a lot,” Rashid Khan said after the last game where he picked up 2/11. He was smashed to all parts of the ground the last time SRH played against KXIP. But he has come storming back.

After his Man of the Match performance in the last game, Rashid backed it up with another excellent spell. KXIP were cruising at 55/0 before the Afghanistan leggie knocked over KL Rahul with a beauty to given SRH their first breakthrough. He then came back and dismissed Karun Nair and Ravichandran Ashwin as he constantly troubled the batsmen.

He went past the outside-edge quite a few times and every time he came on to bowl, the KXIP batsmen looked to play him out. Finishing with figures of 3/19 in his 4 overs was one of the main reasons why SRH defended 132.

#4 Miss: Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson registered his first IPL duck

Ahead of this IPL, there were quite a few questions about the T20 game of Kane Williamson. However, he has been SRH’s best batsman in the tournament so far. In the last four games, he has three half-centuries and a 29 (where he was the top-scorer). The SRH skipper has carried this SRH batting line-up.

However, in this game, he bagged his first-ever IPL duck. Once again, he walked out to open the batting along with Shikhar Dhawan. The in-form SRH skipper though failed to last beyond the first over as he fell for a three-ball duck. After playing out a couple of dot balls, he was foxed by the extra bounce generated by Ankit Rajpoot. It was a poor shot from Williamson as he tried to fetch the pull from outside off-stump.

#3 Hit: Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan rode his luck and scored a vital 28 before picking up two important wickets.

In this IPL, Shakib Al Hasan might not have had an impact performance but he’s chipped in with some vital performances. He’s been quite good with the ball and has been decent with the bat.

In this game against KXIP, Shakib walked out to bat in the 5th over with SRH 27/3. He was out caught at third man off the first ball he faced but Barinder Sran had overstepped and Shakib got was handed a life. He didn’t quite make full use of his reprieve but he made a useful run-a-ball 28. The Bangladesh all-rounder shared an important 52-run stand with Manish Pandey which prevented a collapse.

With the ball, Shakib started with a tidy over as he gave just 6 runs. But in his next two overs, he picked up the wickets of Mayank Agarwal and Aaron Finch to help SRH make a comeback in the game. He finished with figures of 2/18 to cap off a good all-round performance.

#2 Miss: Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal has failed to build on his starts.

Mayank Agarwal had a record-breaking domestic season as he scored a staggering 2141 runs across formats. Despite his stellar show, he was not picked in the second-string Indian team for the tri-series in Sri Lanka as chief selector MSK Prasad said the Karnataka batsman is ‘in the queue’.

But Agarwal wasn’t disappointed. He’s good really good in this tournament as well. But the problem is that he's getting good starts and not kicking on. And his highest score in this IPL is 30. He might not be opening the batting which is his preferred position, but he has wasted his opportunities.

In this game, Mayank Agarwal came out to bat at No. 3. With KXIP not chasing a big target, the Karnataka batsman looked rotate strike and keep the scoreboard ticking. He was looking iffy and was eventually dismissed by Shakib as the 27-year-old opener tried to hit one out of the ground. Agarwal once again disappointed as he fell for a 15-ball 12.

#1 Hit: Ankit Rajpoot

Ankit Rajpoot won his second consecutive Man of the Match award.

Before this season, Ankit Rajpoot had played just 11 IPL games and had picked up 8 wickets. He was a part of Chennai Super Kings in 2013 and 2014 where he played just two games. For Kolkata Knight Riders, he got to play 9 games and impressed.

Hence, he was bought for ₹3 crores by Kings XI Punjab, a team which had filled its side with several stars and thus, his selection went unnoticed. After sitting out for the first few games, Rajpoot played his first game of the season against his former side KKR and was expensive. However, he came back well as he won the Man of the Match award in the last game against Delhi Daredevils for his superb spell of 2/23.

In this game, he continued his good form. The Uttar Pradesh pacer was brilliant in the powerplay. He broke the back of SRH’s top-order with an excellent 3-over spell upfront where he took 3 wickets. He first prized out skipper Kane Williamson with some extra bounce in the first and then sent Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha in his next two overs. At the end of the powerplay, Rajpoot’s figures read 3/9 in 3 overs. And then he came back to bowl the final over and finished with a fifer as he bowled a good final over where he gave away just 5 runs and picked up 2 wickets.

The 24-year-old pacer ran in and hit the pitch hard and extracted that extra bounce which troubled the SRH batsmen. He finished with 5/14 which is the best figures of this IPL.