IPL 2018: Unplayable Rashid Khan brings the heat and other talking points as Kings XI Punjab capitulate against Sunrisers Hyderabad

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  • Rashid Khan and SRH will be up against the DD. Image: IPL/Twitter.

    After defending a paltry total of 118 in their win over Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad once again showed their bowling prowess as they defended a score of 132-6 to beat Kings XI Punjab by 13 runs in the IPL on Thursday.

    Kane Williamson‘s men made up for an average show with the bat with a stirring bowling performance at the Rajeev Gandhi International stadium in Hyderabad that saw Kings XI bowled out for just 119 runs.

    Here, we look at the key talking points from another edge-of-the-seat affair in the 2018 edition of the IPL.

    YUVRAJ RUNS OUT OF CHANCES

    Yuvraj Singh might have returned to his ‘home’ with Kings XI Punjab, but it has simply not happened for the veteran batsman in 2018.

    The 36-year-old has cut a painful picture on the batting crease whenever he has been given the chance. Struggling to generate any timing or fluency in his batting, Yuvraj’s best days look well and truly behind him.

    The World Cup winner has been called into action four times this campaign and nowhere have his struggles been more evident than in his scratchy innings of 14 against the Delhi Daredevils.

    That innings has broken the camel’s back for Yuvraj and he find himself out of the playing XI on Thursday with Manish Tiwary taking his place.

    RAJPOOT BLOWS AWAY HYDERABAD’S TOP-ORDER

    After putting in a man-of-the-match performance in Kings XI’s previous match, Ankit Rajpoot started very much in the same vein on Thursday as he took apart Sunrisers’ top-order with an exceptional display of swing and bounce.

    The 24-year-old pacer removed opposition skipper Williamson in the first over itself after generating some extra bounce before dismissing Shikhar Dhawan with a peach of an out-swinger in his next over. When Wriddhiman Saha miscued a slog to be caught, Rajpoot had three wickets in three overs. The youngster could have had a fourth victim too in his third over if Andrew Tye had not dropped a straightforward catch to let off Manish Pandey.

    He did return to bowl an exceptional final over of the innings where he conceded just five runs and picked up two more wickets to register the best bowling figures (5-14) so far in the ongoing edition.

    KINGS XI’S COSTLY DROPS AND NO-BALL

    With the Hyderabad top-order back in the shed in no time, Kings XI were sniffing blood as they sought to tighten the noose around the hosts. However, some shoddy fielding and a big no-ball prevented them for inflicting even further damage on last year’s runners-up.

    Rajpoot could have had two wickets in consecutive balls after he dismissed Saha but Tye could not hold on to Manish Pandey’s mishit pull as the chance went begging. Skipper Ravichandran Ashwin himself put down an easy chance running back from mid-off to give a reprieve to the very same batsman.

    Then, Barinder Sran had new batsman Shakib Al Hasan caught at third man for a duck but was retrospectively found to have overstepped the bowling crease by some distance to let off Hyderabad once again. Such was their profligacy that Ashwin’s men could well have at least half the Hyderabad line-up back in the dressing in the powerplay itself.

    Two more sitters would be put down by the side in the death overs taking their dropped catches tally to four for the match.

    UNPLAYABLE RASHID BRINGS THE HEAT

    When Chris Gayle and KL Rahul gave Kings XI Punjab another solid start, it seemed like the visitors would romp to victory without a sweat. The Kings XI openers had raced away to a 55-run partnership before the magical Rashid Khan was introduced.

    The Afghan leg-spinner had been taken to the cleaners by the same pair in the reverse clash at Mohali but at Hyderabad, he was literally unplayable.

    He took out the off-stump of the well-set Rahul with a ripping leg-spinner before trapping Karun Nair plumb in front of the wickets with a sharp googly that the batsmen just didn’t pick.

    In between these two wickets, the highly-rated teenage prodigy made batsmen look silly plenty of times as they struggled to read his variations. He picked up the wicket of Rajpoot in his final over to finish with excellent figures of 3-19 from his four overs. His wicket of Rahul opened the doors of victory for Williamson’s men.

    KINGS XI’S MIDDLE-ORDER HORRIBLY EXPOSED

    The rollicking starts given by Gayle and Rahul have meant that the Kings XI middle-order has rarely been put under pressure in their strong run. On Thursday too, the pair put on 55 runs for the opening wicket.

    However, once both openers fell in quick succession, the Kings XI batsmen looked all at sea in the face of incessant pressure from the strong Sunrisers bowling attack.

    Aaron Finch, Manoj Tiwary and Mayank Agarwal were all guilty of throwing away their wickets as the batsmen started a procession back to the pavilion. From 55-0, the visitors were ultimately bowled out for just as defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. For once, the rest of the Kings XI batsmen apart from Gayle and Rahul needed to be counted, but it was not to be at Hyderabad.

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