Quality death bowling secures KXIP a come-from-behind victory against SRH

With 100 runs on board at a loss of three wickets, Sunrisers Hyderabad was cruising to an easy victory after restricting KXIP to a meagre 126. But the death bowling heroics of specialist Chris Jordan and left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh pulled Punjab from the jaws of defeat as they secured their fourth victory on the trot keeping the hopes alive for qualifiers.

An incredible collapse

In a nutshell, it was staggering to see SRH losing last 7 wickets for just 14 runs and inside 23 balls. It was mayhem by KXIP in death overs. “Feel great, proud of the team. We had a tough start, but we kept the belief. It’s part and parcel of life to miss a few. The coaches and the teams are trying their best to get the best combination, to win four in a row is really pleasing,” said Jordan after being adjudged Player of the Match for his (4 overs-17 runs and 3 wickets) outstanding display of crafty bowling in the dying moments of the match.

SRH will be pinching themselves that at one stage they needed 27 to win from 24 balls and then 20 from 18 balls and yet they ended up losing the match by a margin of 12 runs! They wrongly took the leaf out of KXIP’s book in from their matches in the first half of the tournament. “In the first half, we somehow couldn’t make this a habit. I am just speechless right now, to be honest. Very happy with the show from the boys,” said KL Rahul the KXIP captain after the match.

KXIP bowlers made it possible

Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi’s parsimonious spell (4 overs. 13 runs and 1 wicket) built pressure in the middle overs but Arshdeep was superb in death overs and his 3 for 23 was as good as Jordan's effort with the ball. “ We saw an opportunity for the win and tried our best and thankfully, it went our way. The plan was to bowl it into the wicket and bowl as many slower balls and it worked,” said the youngster from Punjab after the match in his post-match presentation with the host broadcaster. Arshdeep is such a fresh talent and smiling player that even great Sunil Gavaskar asked him to smile especially after his reply!

None stood out from KXIP while batting

Earlier, when SRH won the toss and decided to bat first, none of the KXIP batters failed to play a substantial knock.  Rahul(27), Mandeep Singh(17), Chris Gayle(20) and Nicholas Pooran (32) could only take the innings total to 126.

“After the start we got, we took our foot off the pedal. Felt on that wicket it was going to get tougher once the spin came into it,” said Warner after the match trying to suggest that even such a small total was not easy to chase because of the nature of the pitch.