On Saturday night, fans got to witness a low-scoring thriller in Sharjah, which at one point looked like one-way traffic.
Kane Williamson’s Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) needed 126 to win in their stipulated 20 overs. But they got off to a worse start than the KL Rahul-led Punjab Kings (PBKS). Fast bowler Mohammed Shami removed David Warner (2) and Kane Williamson (1) in his first two over to give the opposition early blows.
Ravi Bishnoi, who was playing his first match of the UAE leg of IPL 2021, then outfoxed Manish Pandey (13), castling him with a googly. The leggie went on to pick two more wickets, Kedar Jadhav (12) and Abdul Samad (1), to dent SRH’s chances further.
After the dismissal of well set Wriddhiman Saha (31), Jason Holder took charge and smashed an unbeaten 47 off 29 balls. However, he couldn’t take his side over the finish line, and PBKS won by five runs. With this loss, SRH have been eliminated from the tournament.
Earlier, after being put in to bat first, Punjab got off to a horrible start as they could only manage to score 29/2 in the powerplay. Both the openers Rahul (21) and Mayank Agarwal (5) were sent back to the dugout in the same over by Holder, who rocked PBKS in his very first over.
Soon after, Chris Gayle (14) and Nicholas Pooran (8) were dismissed by Rashid Khan and Sandeep Sharma, respectively. Aiden Markram (27) was the top scorer for Punjab, while Holder finished with bowling figures of 3/19 to help his side restrict the opposition at 125/7.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
That winning feeling! 👏 👏@PunjabKingsIPL hold their nerve and beat #SRH by 5 runs in Sharjah. 👍 👍 #VIVOIPL #SRHvPBKS
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/B6ITrxUyyF pic.twitter.com/BR2dOwDEfZ
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 25, 2021
Excitement! That is what defines IPL. Super performance by Punjab Kings to deny Sunrisers a win despite having a low total! Day one of the IPL Weekend ends! A clash of titans awaits us tomorrow! #IPL #IPL2021
— parthiv patel (@parthiv9) September 25, 2021
4-0-24-3! 😍@bishnoi0056 worked his magic again! 🪄#SaddaPunjab #IPL2021 #PunjabKings #SRHvPBKS pic.twitter.com/dbLWpAcSC6
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) September 25, 2021
Super match. Jason Holder, I feel sorry for you. #SRHvsPBKS #SRHvsPBKS
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) September 25, 2021
#SRHvPBKS #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/7ZZNKjJEfH
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) September 25, 2021
Now loaded ■■■■■■■■■ 2 points…
Sorry, there was an error last time🤭#SaddaPunjab #IPL2021 #PunjabKings #SRHvPBKS
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) September 25, 2021
Yet another last-ball finish for #PBKS 😂😂😂
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) September 25, 2021
We fall short by 5 runs. A valiant effort from Jason Holder.
🟠 – 120/7 (20)#SRHvPBKS #OrangeArmy #OrangeOrNothing #IPL2021
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) September 25, 2021
#PBKS has defended 126 runs against #SRH – all credit goes to bowling lead by Bishnoi, Shami, Arshdeep – Two Indian youngsters leading the way into the victory.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) September 25, 2021
Most times defending less than 130 in IPL history:-
3 times: #PBKS pic.twitter.com/s8b3mEkR66— jasmine (@TiredOfProcess) September 25, 2021
😎🏏 PUNJAB HELD THEIR NERVE! A phenomenal effort from the Punjab bowlers to successfully defend 125 👊
📷 IPL • #SRHvPBKS #PBKSvSRH #arsdeepsingh #mohammedshami #ipl2021 #ipl #BharatArmy pic.twitter.com/GGvVPLD6rH
— The Bharat Army (@thebharatarmy) September 25, 2021
Dear @SunRisers how can we loose so many matches ? 🙄
Let’s forget this season…
Next Season all reals ok 👍🏼 #SRHvsPBKS #PBKS pic.twitter.com/OVcdPIGmAz— Nikhil Siddhartha (@actor_Nikhil) September 25, 2021
Jason Holder had the best bowling figures in the match (3/19) and scored the most runs (47* off 29 with 5 sixes) but had to end on the losing side. #SRHvsPBKS #IPL2021
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) September 25, 2021
Brilliant captaincy from @klrahul11 successfully defended lowest score at smallest ground 🔥🔥🔥 #SRHvPBKS
— 🏌️ (@Plant_Warrior) September 25, 2021
People thought this would be boring, but SRH & PBKS actually made this low scoring match a thriller and interesting 😂 #SRHvPBKS pic.twitter.com/bgSWHub3tW
— 𝙨𝙤𝙝𝙤𝙢 ᴷᴷᴿ (@AwaaraHoon) September 25, 2021