Twitter Reactions: SRH suffer a dramatic collapse as KXIP defend the lowest total of IPL 2020

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) are in some form in the second half of the Indian Premier League (IPL). After gunning down the top three teams in the table, they found a way to beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday. KXIP bowlers defended the lowest total of the season, 126, and rather managed to win the game by 12 runs. SRH literally choked after they needed 30 runs off last five overs to lose seven wickets for just 14 runs.

Earlier, after losing the toss, KXIP got off to a sedate start with KL Rahul and his new opening partner Mandeep Singh doing well in the first five overs. The latter couldn’t get going in a rare opportunity in the absence of Mayank Agarwal who got injured in the last game. Chris Gayle came out and smacked a six but Jason Holder got the better of him for a run-a-ball 20.

KL Rahul, at the other end, looked fluent yet again but got slow after the powerplay. He struggled against Rashid Khan, like every time, and couldn’t read his googly only to see his stumps get shattered. Despite having 61 runs on the board after nine overs, KXIP lost all the momentum in the latter half of the innings. Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell tried to build a partnership but run-scoring was proving to be too difficult.

The latter’s poor season continued with even SRH pacers bowling well to keep a lid on the run-rate. Wickets kept on falling and runs never came even though Pooran made sure he played till the end. The Caribbean too could only hit a couple of fours during his unbeaten stay as he mustered 32 runs. KXIP finished with only 126 runs on the board as Sandeep Sharma, Rashid and Jason Holder picked two wickets each for SRH.

SRH choke in last five overs of the chase

SRH were expected to canter in the 127-run chase and their openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow started in the same manner. The former tried to attack from the word go smacking a couple of sixes early in the innings. The duo added 56 runs in 6.2 overs before young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi got the better of the SRH skipper who gloved a ball to wicketkeeper while trying to play a reverse sweep.

But Warner’s 20-ball 35 laid a perfect platform for the middle-order. However, there was panic in the middle-overs with Bairstow and Abdul Samad getting out soon. At 67/3 in the ninth over, things looked shaky for the Orange Army. Once again, the Indian pair from the last match, Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar, made sure that there was no collapse.

Their captain’s quick-fire innings upfront made sure that they were not under pressure of scoring runs at a quick rate. The duo played out the leg-spinners Murugan Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi without much fuss. Shankar played a few decent strokes with the straight bat to churn boundaries. Pandey, however, looked circumspect and decided to just bide his time in the middle.

The crucial fourth wicket partnership took SRH to 100 and the equation came down 28 off the last four overs. Manish Pandey then sensed a chance to go over the boundary off Chris Jordan. But the substitute fielder Jagadeesha Suchith’s brilliance straight down the ground led to his dismissal making the game interesting. Pandey played according to the situation but could score only 15 off 29 balls.

Things looked even fine then but Shankar’s wicket clicked the panic button for SRH. With two new batsmen in the middle, runs were hard to come by and Chris Jordan bowled a sensational penultimate over to send back Holder and Rashid off successive deliveries. It all came down to 14 runs in the last over with Arshdeep Singh, the left-arm seamer, having the duty to defend it for KXIP.

The youngster didn’t disappoint and SRH completely choked in the chase to sensationally get bowled out in the last over of the innings. They literally fell 12 runs short of the target as KXIP registered their fourth consecutive win of the tournament. SRH lost their last seven wickets for just 14 runs to hand over the game to the opponents.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: