Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) claimed their first victory of the season after comprehensively beating the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Match 14 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the M. A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.

Jonny Bairstow top-scored with the bat and successfully led the SRH chase after PBKS were bundled for 120, thanks to Khaleel Ahmed’s impressive figures of 3/21. 

Chasing a target of 121, openers David Warner and Bairstow got off to a solid start to their innings. PBKS started early with spinner Fabian Allen, who was hit for four and a six by Bairstow in the second over.

The right-hander then flicked Mohammad Shami for a four in the next over before Warner played the cut off the seamer to produce the same result.

All-rounder Moises Henriques was greeted with a maximum by Bairstow, who took full advantage of the loosener. Warner scored 10 runs off Arshdeep Singh in the 6th over to bring up the fifty partnership for the opening wicket and SRH were 50/0 at the end of powerplay.

The opening duo played out a couple of quiet overs bowled by PBKS spinners, who conceded only sixteen runs in the next 3 overs.

Warner hit his first six of the innings against Deepak Hooda over extra-cover as SRH were 73 for no loss at the end of ten overs.

PBKS finally found their first breakthrough after Allen got rid of the SRH skipper, who holed out to deep in the 11th over which was a wicket-maiden.

Kane Williamson, who joined Bairstow in the middle, kept rotating the strike with the opener. While the boundaries weren’t coming off the bat, the required run-rate was less than 6 for SRH.

The 100 was up for SRH in the 16th over and they were closing in to the target comfortably without having to take any risks.

Murugan Ahswin continued bowling tight lengths and conceded only 4 runs in the 17th.

Bairstow brought up his fifty in style with a four off Hooda and further smacked Arshdeep for a maximum with a clean strike as SRH chased down the total in the 19th over with 8 balls to spare.

Earlier, PBKS decided to bat first on a dry Chennai surface and made two changes as Allen and Henriques made their PBKS debuts.

Agarwal, who opened alongside PBKS skipper KL Rahul, got an early life after Rashid Khan spilled the right-hander’s catch in the deep in the first over as the PBKS got off to a watchful start.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck early for SRH and bagged the important wicket of KL Rahul, who was caught inside the circle.

Agarwal and Chris Gayle got PBKS to 32/1, scoring below 6 runs an over at the end of powerplay as Bhuvneshwar bowled 3 overs on the trot, inside the powerplay.

Agarwal fell right after the powerplay, in similar fashion to KL Rahul after Rashid took a sharp catch at mid-wicket and made up for his earlier drop.

PBKS lost yet another wicket to an excellent piece of fielding from SRH after a direct-hit from Warner ran Nicholas Pooran out. The left-hander was dismissed without facing a delivery.

Things went from bad to worse for PBKS after Gayle was trapped in front by Rashid, reducing them 53/4 at the end of the 10-over mark. 

Shahrukh Khan and Moises Henriques added 19 runs between them. But Abhishek Sharma ended the partnership to pick up his second wicket of the innings after Henriques was stumped in an attempt to clear the ropes. 

PBKS crossed the 100-run mark in the 17th over and Shahrukh added some vital runs to the total but SRH picked their seventh wicket of the innings after Allen was dismissed after Warner, at extra-cover, took an athletic catch. 

In the penultimate over, Shahrukh tried to go big against Khaleel but was caught in the deep by Abhishek, who completed a simple catch. PBKS lost their final two wickets in the 20th over and were bundled out for 120. First, Murugan Ashwin nicked one to the keeper off Siddarth Kaul’s bowling and then Shami was run out on the final delivery of the innings. 

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 121/1 (Jonny Bairstow 63*, David Warner 37; Fabian Allen 1/22) beat Punjab Kings 120 all out (Shahrukh Khan 22, Mayank Agarwal 22; Khaleel Ahmed 3/21) by 9 wickets.