Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) produced a clinical performance to register a convincing eight-wicket victory over Punjab Kings (PBKS) and open their account in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 here on Sunday.
With SRH chasing 144 after spinner Mayank Markande's (4/15) exploits with ball, Rahul Tripathi sizzled with an unbeaten 48-ball 74 to help his side complete the task in 17.1 overs.
Skipper Aiden Markram remained not out on 37 off 21 balls, and their efforts ensured that Shikhar Dhawan's 66-ball 99 not out, which lifted PBKS to 143/9, went in vain.
Markande did the star turn to leave PBKS reeling at 88/9 in the 15th over. Dhawan hit 12 fours and five sixes.
When their turn to bat came, SRH were slow to start with and reached 34/1 at the end of the six powerplay overs.
Having being hit for six by Tripathi, leg-spinner Rahul Chahar came back to grab the big wicket of Mayank Agarwal for a 20-ball 21, in the ninth over.
Tripathi then struck two successive fours off Chahar to help SRH cross 50, before hitting left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar for three boundaries on the trot to keep his team in the contest.
On a pitch where almost all the batters struggled, with the exception of Dhawan, Tripathi managed to shine and brought up his half-century off 35 balls with a six off Mohit Rathee.
That was followed by the duo of Tripathi and Markram bringing up the fifty partnership at the start of the 14th over, with SRH requiring 49 runs in 42 balls.
Tripathi and Markram then turned the tide in their favour by striking Rathee for 21 runs, bringing the equation down to 26 runs in the last five overs.
Earlier, even as PBKS lost wickets at regular intervals, Dhawan showed his teammates how to do it with his remarkable knock.
Asked to bat first, PBKS endured a disastrous start as they lost Prabhsimran Singh off the very first ball of the match, trapped in front of the wicket by veteran Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The ball hit him above the knee roll but Prabhsimran decided to walk back without asking for a review, leaving Punjab at none for one.
Dhawan hit Bhuvneshwar towards the third man region for the innings first boundary.
However, Dhawan again watched from the non-striker's end as Matthew Short (1) was dismissed lbw by South African left-arm pacer Marco Jansen off the second delivery of the match's second over.
The ball landed on a good length and swung in before hitting Short's pads. Unlike Prabhsimran, Short consulted his skipper before deciding to come back into the dugout, leaving PBKS in a spot at 10 /2 in the second over.
Next ball, and another swinging delivery struck wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma (4) on the pads, and Jansen's loud shout for an lbw was upheld by the umpire. DRS was promptly taken and the ball-tracking technology showed it was going well down the leg-side, leading to the decision being overturned and giving some relief to PBKS.
Dhawan scored two fours off Bhuvneshwar, before Jansen returned to send back Jitesh Sharma, who failed to clear Markram at mid-off.
Sam Curran struck a six and a four off successive Jansen deliveries but, after having made 22 off 15 balls, the English all-rounder was done in by leg-spinner Markande.
But Dhawan had other ideas as he smashed the SRH bowlers to take his team to a respectable total. Helping Dhawan along the way was Bhuvneshwar, who spilled three chances by the batter, including two off his own bowling.
