"Hyderabad's sun has finally risen" - Aakash Chopra on SunRisers Hyderabad's IPL 2023 win against Punjab Kings

Aakash Chopra has praised the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) for finally opening their account in IPL 2023.

SRH restricted the Punjab Kings (PBKS) to 143/9 after asking them to bat first in Hyderabad on Sunday, April 9. The home team then chased down the target with eight wickets and 17 deliveries to spare to register their maiden win after suffering defeats in their first two games of the tournament.

While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that the SunRisers Hyderabad got off to the best possible start, observing:

"Punjab were unbeaten heading into this game but Hyderabad's sun has finally risen. Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bowl. There Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Prabhsimran Singh off the very first delivery."

The former Indian opener lauded Shikhar Dhawan for being the lone warrior for the Punjab Kings with the bat, elaborating:

"Then Marco Jansen sent back Matthew Short and Jitesh Sharma. The wickets were tumbling one after the other but Shikhar Dhawan batted absolutely fearlessly. He remained unbeaten on 99. Shikhi is in a different space and would say that it doesn't matter that he missed a century."

Chopra added that the Punjab Kings skipper almost single-handedly took his side to a respectable total, explaining:

"One player scored 99 runs off 66 balls and the rest of the team lost their wickets in nine overs. There was a 55-run partnership for the last wicket where Shikhar Dhawan scored almost all the runs. Shikhar Dhawan's knock will go into the annals of this tournament's history."

Sam Curran (22 off 15) was the only other PBKS batter to score more than five runs. While Mayank Markande (4/15) was the most successful bowler for the SunRisers Hyderabad, Marco Jansen and Umran Malik accounted for two dismissals apiece.

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"Rahul Tripathi played extremely well and in a classical fashion" - Aakash Chopra on the SunRisers Hyderabad's chase

Rahul Tripathi scored an unbeaten half-century in the SunRisers Hyderabad's chase. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Reflecting on the SunRisers Hyderabad's run chase, Aakash Chopra praised Rahul Tripathi for taking his team across the line in Aiden Markram's company, saying:

"They got Harry Brook to open. He is struggling against spin but he got out to Arshdeep Singh. Then Mayank Agarwal was also dismissed, who falls prey to Rahul Chahar but no wicket fell after that. Rahul Tripathi played extremely well and in a classical fashion. He stayed till the end and Aiden Markram was there alongside him."

Tripathi smashed an unbeaten 74 off 48 balls, a knock studded with 10 fours and three sixes. He strung together an unbroken 100-run third-wicket partnership with Markram (37* off 21) when SRH were in a slight spot of bother at 45/2 after 8.3 overs.