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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN all-rounder, Sikandar Raza’ Indian Premier League (IPL) side, Punjab Kings suffered their first defeat of the 2023 season, an eight wicket loss at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Punjab Kings went into the match having won their first two opening encounters and looking to make it three out of three.
It was however another bad day in the office for Raza who fell for five runs as the Kings posted 143/9 in 20 overs and the Zimbabwean did not bowl as Sunrisers cruised to 145/2 in 17.1 overs, winning the match with 17 balls to spare.
The Shikhar Dhawan captained Kings side were sent in to bat first and the Chevrons star came into the middle at number six with his team of 63/4 in 8. 5 overs.
Raza faced six deliveries for his five runs and did not score a boundary before he departed cheaply. It took yet another special innings from the skipper, Dhawan to save his side from below par total as he watched wickets fall around him.
Dhawan was dropped three times along the way for his 99 runs not out in 66 balls and he contributed 52 in an unbroken 55-run partnership for a last wicket with debutant Mohit Rathee, which became an IPL record.
The only other Kings batter that managed to cross double figures was Sam Curran who fell for 22 runs off 15 deliveries and Raza’s contribution was the third highest score coming off the bat.
Leg spinner Mayank Markande was the star with the ball for the Sunrisers as he took four wickets for 15 runs in four overs while Marco Jansen and Umran Malik picked up two scalps each for 16 and 32 runs respectively.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the other wicket that fell.
A 100 runs third wicket partnership between Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram took the Sunrisers across the finish line in the 18th over.
Tripathi finished on 74 runs from 48 balls while Markram was on 37 off 21 deliveries to guide their side to their first victory of the season. Arshdeep Singh and Rahul Chahar took the only two wickets that fell.
The defeat means the Kings remain on four points after three games and will face a wounded Gujarat Titans who lost a last ball thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders on the same day. The match is scheduled for Thursday in Mohali. – @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter