IPL 2020: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kings XI Punjab by 69 runs, biggest win in terms of runs

Sunrisers Hyderabad produced a clinical performance in Match 22 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Thursday to beat Kings XI Punjab by 69 runs and return to winning ways once again. This was SRH's biggest win in terms of runs vs KXIP.

Kings XI Punjab made a fist of the mammoth run chase despite losing early wickets thanks to Nicholas Pooran's knock but ran out of steam in the final overs to end up with 132 in 16.5 overs, in reply to SRH's 201 for 6.

Pooran smashed the fastest 50 this season, bringing up his maiden IPL half-century in 17 balls, but he kept losing partners at the other end which made matters worse for KXIP.

He came to the crease at 58 for 3 in the 7th over and batted for 37 balls to score 77 runs with 5 fours and 7 towering sixes. His dismissal at 126 for 7 ended all hopes of a KXIP victory.

Rashid Khan was once again the star with the ball for SRH with 3 for 12 from his 4 overs while Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan took 2 each.

SRH climbed to 3rd position on the IPL 2020 table thanks to a better net run-rate than Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, with all 3 teams tied on 6 points each. KXIP meanwhile, remain in last spot after suffering their fourth defeat in succession.

Earlier, Jonny Bairstow and David Warner's 160-run opening partnership helped SRH post 201 for



6 after they opted to bat first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Bairstow smashed 97 off 55 with 7 fours and 6 sixes while Warner made 52 off 40 in their 5th 100-run partnership for SRH in what was just their 16th innings together in the T20 tournament.

Notably, only David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan have registered more 100-run stands in IPL than the combination of Warner and Bairstow. The SRH captain and Dhawan had put on 6 hundred-plus stands in 48 innings for the same side.

With their 5th, Bairstow and Warner also entered the top 5 on the list of pairs with most hundred-plus stands. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers hold the record for most hundred-plus stands.

But SRH suffered a dramatic collapse once Ravi Bishnoi dismissed Bairstow in the 16th over and then got rid of Warner 3 balls later. Manish Pandey fell in the very next over bowled by Arshdeep Singh as SRH lost 3 wickets in 7 balls for 1 run.

It was only because of Kane Williamson's unbeaten 20 and Abhishek Sharma's 6-ball 12 which helped SRH scrape past the 200-run mark when at one stage they looked set to reach a total in excess of 220.

Bishnoi was the best bowler on show for KXIP, finishing with 3 for 29 from 3 overs after conceding 18 runs in his first over. Arshdeep, who was playing his first game for KXIP this season, bagged 2 wickets.