IPL 2022 | PBKS vs SRH | Hyderabad cruise to their fourth consecutive win courtesy sublime performances

The Sunrisers Hyderabad have been on fire after their early defeats in the tournament as the franchise bagged their fourth consecutive win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 with a seven-wicket victory over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 28th fixture of the tournament, at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai.

The Sunrisers were right on the money tonight, with their bowlers putting up a remarkable display. They managed to restrict Punjab to 152 runs in the first innings. Aiden Markram and Nicolas Pooran finished the job for their franchise with an unbeaten 75 runs partnership for the fourth wicket.

Although skipper Williamson adopted the same old defensive approach, he could not survive for long and lost his wicket on Kagiso Rabada's delivery. However, Abhishek Sharma eased the nerves and smashed quite a few boundaries to settle things for his side.

Rahul Tripathi also continued his purple patch and contributed vital 34 runs to push SRH towards the target. Rahul Chahar, who had a tough time while bowling his first over, made a remarkable comeback and set up Abhishek and Tripathi, dismissing the batters.

While Punjab eyed the turnaround window, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pools did not allow that to happen. At first, the two dynamic players focused on strike rotation but teed off as SRH came close to the target. 

The South African smashed a four and a six to seal the game for SRH in the 19th overs with seven wickets to spare.

Earlier, Punjab Kings were put in to bat without their regular skipper, Mayank Agarwal, who missed out on the game after suffering a toe injury. Shikhar Dhawan took over the responsibility as the interim skipper but failed to justify the role as he lost his wicket early to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

No PBKS batter could get going except Liam Livingstone, who fired his way to 60 runs in just 33 balls. While Bhuvneshwar did his job by dismissing Livingstone, Umran Malik's masterclass in the final over restricted the Kings to 151 runs. 

Malik was nothing short of spectacular in the last over as the young quick picked up three wickets in the 20th over without spending a single run. The bowler picked up four wickets in the contest and was awarded the Player of the Match for his contributions.

Brief scores

Punjab Kings: 151/10 (20)

Liam Livingstone 60(33), Shahrukh Khan 26(28);

Umran Malik 28/4 (4), Bhuvneshwar Kumar 22/3 (4)

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 152/3 (18.5)

Aiden Markram 41(27), Nicholas Pooran 35(30);

Rahul Chahar 28/2 (4), Kagiso Rabada 29/1 (4)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by seven wickets.