Images from the IPL 2022 match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
Young pace sensation Umran Malik's scorching final over proved to be the difference as Sunrisers Hyderabad slayed Punjab Kings by seven wickets for their fourth successive win in IPL 2022 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
In top gear with Liam Livingstone's counter-attacking 60 off 30 balls, Punjab lost five wickets in seven balls with Malik (4/28) producing a perfect final over -- a rare four-wicket maiden (including a run out) -- to skittle out the opposition for a below-par 151.
After Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/22) provided the key breakthrough of Livingstone, the 22-year-old uncapped pacer picked three wickets while the fourth came via run out to derail Punjab.
In reply, Sunrisers Hyderabad did not have a perfect start and lost skipper Kane Williamson (3) early in the fourth over with Kagiso Rabada drawing the first blood.
Abhishek Sharma (31) and Rahul Tripathi (34) batted sensibly in the middle overs to lay the foundation with their 48-run stand for the second wicket.
Opener Abhishek Sharma (31 off 25 balls) and the in-form Rahul Tripathi (34 from 22b) failed to convert their starts but the modest total meant that SRH did not have to worry much in the end.
Windies wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran (41 not out) and Aiden Markram (35 not out) completed the formalities with an unbroken 75-run partnership from 50 balls.
Playing without their regular skipper Mayank Agarwal, who suffered a toe-injury during training, Punjab were also let down with their sloppy fielding as they missed a runout and conceded easy runs defending a small total.
Markram finished off the chase in the penultimate over hitting Vaibhav Arora for consecutive boundaries and six to seal the issue with seven balls to spare.
The win took Sunrisers to eight points, moving up from the middle-table rush to climb to fourth spot, while Punjab remained on seventh with six points from as many matches.
Earlier, Malik's sensational spell came after Liam Livingstone's counter-attacking counter-attacking half-century.
The English all-rounder, who was the most expensive overseas player in this season's IPL auction with a price tag of Rs 11.50 crore, resurrected the Punjab innings after an early collapse.
Reduced to 61/4 inside eight overs after being put in, Livingstone found a perfect ally in Shahrukh Khan (26 off 28 balls) as the duo stitched together a vital partnership of 71 from 49 balls to revive them in the middle overs.
On a slow pitch where scoring was difficult early on, the England right-hander did look in any trouble as he played his shots freely all around the park.
But the momentum shifted heavily in favour of Sunrisers after Bhuvneshwar provided the key breakthrough of Livingstone with Williamson taking a superb low catch from the final delivery of the penultimate over.
Malik ran through the Punjab middle order in the final over. He got Odean Smith with a slower one before castling Rahul Chahar and Vaibhav Arora off successive deliveries.
Chahar danced around his crease before he missed the straight full delivery which crashed into the stumps. Arora also had no answers to another quick delivery aimed at the stumps as he perished for a first-ball duck.
Arshdeep Singh avoided the hat-trick as he drove the last ball into the covers but was run out as Punjab lost four wickets in the final over, in which they failed to score a single over.
Infact, Punjab lost their way totally in the death overs, losing five wickets for 29 runs in the last five overs.
