Twitter Reactions: Punjab Kings thrive on a sluggish pitch in Sharjah, deny a spirited Jason Holder in final over

Holder picked 3/19 with the ball and then smashed 47* off 29 balls and still ended on the losing side.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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4 Min Read

Jason Holder
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Jason Holder. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Wow! Spare a thought for Jason Holder! The man takes 3/19 with the ball and smashes an unbeaten 47 off 29 balls with five sixes and still ends up on the losing side. Well, he was the only batsman in the whole match who could bat comfortably on a sluggish Sharjah pitch. But such is the nature of the game that he ended up on the wrong end. Credit has to be given to Punjab Kings who did well to bat out 20 overs first and then kept SRH tied for the better part of their innings.

Earlier, Punjab Kings batsmen never got going in their innings after losing their openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal early. Jason Holder sent back both the batsmen in his first over of the spell. Chris Gayle and Aiden Markram then joined hands together but could never get hold of the slow surface. SRH bowlers kept varying their lengths and speeds to keep the batsmen guessing all the time.

The duo added 30 runs for the third wicket but they came painstakingly with no momentum to the innings at all. Rashid Khan got better of the Universe Boss before he could get going while Sandeep Sharma struck soon to take a brilliant reflex catch and send back the dangerous Nicholas Pooran who had already hit him for a six off the previous delivery.

Understanding the situation of the game, Markram kept rotating the strike making sure there was no collapse. However, after scoring 27 he got out to a part-timer Abdul Samad in trying to up the ante and Deepak Hooda’s poor run also continued with the bat. At 96/6, it seemed as if the Kings won’t play their full quota of 20 overs.

But Harpreet Brar and Nathan Ellis batted sensibly to add 22 runs and took the team past the 120-run mark. Punjab Kings eventually posted 125 runs on the board with Jason Holder being the best bowler for SRH returning with the figures of 3/19.

SRH struggle right through before Holder gave hope

Poor. This has to be the only word for SRH’s batting until Holder came and took on the PBKS bowling attack non-chalantly. David Warner, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav and Abdul Samad, none of the batsmen could get hold of the pitch at any time. SRH literally crawled for the first 13 overs and when Holder came out to bat, they were 60/5 needed 66 runs off last seven overs.

The Caribbean force got his eyes in for 5-6 deliveries before smashing one off the best bowler of PBKS, Ravi Bishnoi. The 16th over turned the momentum completely in SRH’s favour . Holder took on Nathan Ellis hitting him for two sixes and churning out 16 runs in the over. At the other end, Wriddhiman Saha who came out to open the innings was batting sensibly.

He held one end and kept rotating the strike. However, his 31-run vigil ended in the 17th over after a huge mix-up with Holder. The equation eventually came down to 21 runs off the last two overs and Arshdeep Singh managed to snaffle Rashid Khan keeping Holder at the end. He delivered a terrific over to concede only runs. Nathan Ellis had to defend 17 runs off the last over.

The pressure was immense on the debutant and Holder came on the strike with 16 needed off the last five balls. The batsman won the battle on this occasion smashing a huge six off the slow and short ball. However, Ellis came back superbly to keep Holder at bay for the rest of the over and didn’t concede a six at all. It turned out to be a brilliant over as PBKS finally managed to win a close game by five runs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

 

 

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