Dubai, Oct 24 (IANS): SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday put up a clinical bowling performance to restrict Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) to 126/7 wickets at the Dubai International Stadium. KXIP were without opener Mayank Agarwal and struggled to get going throughout the innings and SRH turned the screws in the last five overs, conceding just 38 runs and taking two wickets.
Mandeep Singh was KXIP captain KL Rahul's opening partner in the absence of Mayank. He fell in the fifth over to Sandeep Sharma after which Chris Gayle joined Rahul in the middle. In the process, he became the fifth Indian to have 100 wickets in the IPL.
Gayle made a run a ball 20 before falling to fellow West Indies stalwart Jason Holder in the 10th over. KL Rahul fell to a nearly unplayable delivery from Rashid Khan off the first ball of the very next over.
Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell could not repeat their heroics that led to KXIP's victory in their previous match as SRH hardly made any mistakes in the field to back up their bowlers. While Pooran was unbeaten on 32 off 28 deliveries, Maxwell became Sandeep's second wicket of the day.
Brief scores: KXIP 126/7 wkts in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 32, KL Rahul 27; Rashid Khan 2/14) vs SRH