IPL 2023, SRH VS PBKS: Dhawan’s 99-Run Knock in Vain as Hyderabad Claim Their First Win of the Season

IPL 2023, SRH VS PBKS: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) claimed their maiden win in the IPL 2023 season on Sunday, April 9 as they defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by eight wickets at their home ground- the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. 

SRH skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bowl first. The decision was proven right by the bowlers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed in-form Prabhsimran Singh for a first-ball duck to give an ideal start to his team. Debutant Matthew Short was trapped in front of the wickets by Marco Jansen. The left-arm seam bowling all-rounder struck again with the wicket of Jitesh Sharma. PBKS lost three of their important wickets in the powerplay. Sam Curran joined Shikhar Dhawan in the middle. Curran was hitting boundaries regularly to transfer the pressure on the home side. Playing his first game of the season, Mayank Markande then spun the momentum in his team’s court by taking a couple of wickets. Umran Malik also took two wickets to derail the PBKS innings. 

SRH bowled picked six wickets and conceded just 48 in the middle overs of the game- 7-15. Mayank Markande on his return, starred with 4/15 in his four overs. Dhawan, who was playing a lone hand, added 55 runs for the last wicket alongside Mohit Rathee, who faced just two balls in the partnership. It seemed like PBKS would not even cross the hundred mark, but a determined Dhawan saw PBKS add 55 runs in the death overs and end at 143/9. Skipper Dhawan finished with an unbeaten 99, which was laced with 12 fours and five sixes. He faced 66 balls and struck at 150.00.

IPL 2023, SRH VS PBKS: Tripathi, Markram Starred in the Run Chase

Despite the late surge from Dhawan, this was a below-par total. SRH opened with a new opening combination of Harry Brook and Mayank Agarwal. The newly formed pair could only add 27 runs before Arshdeep Singh knocked over Brook to break the partnership. Rahul Tripathi, who has been struggling to score runs this season, joined Agarwal at the crease. The duo saw Hyderabad through to the powerplay overs safely without losing any wickets. It was then that they faced a tricky test, trying to keep the score ticking against the spin duo of Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar. Chahar in particular was quite difficult to pick, and Mayank Agarwal was looking uncomfortable against the leggie. Eventually, he tried to take on the leg spinner and ended up finding the man in the deep. Once the seasoned campaigner departed, Tripathi took matters into his own hands.

SRH were 45/2 in the ninth over before skipper Aiden Markram joined Tripathi. Together, the two then played well and stitched a match-winning stand of 100. Tripathi kept attacking the PBKS spinners and in that process got to his fifty. He scored a 48-ball 74*, slamming 10 fours and three sixes. SRH captain Markram also made his presence felt with an unbeaten 37-run knock from 21 balls. He slammed Nathan Ellis for four boundaries in the 17th over to finish the proceedings. Tripathi finished things off with a boundary off Brar’s bowling to close the game.