Punjab Kings’ Cooper Connolly vs SRH (ANI Photo) NEW DELHI: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Punjab Kings by 33 points in a high-scoring IPL clash on Wednesday to climb to the top of the points table. SRH amassed a massive 235/4 thanks to strong knocks from Heinrich Klaasen (69 off 43) and Ishan Kishan (55 off 32), while Punjab could only reply with 202/7.Punjab’s poor positioning was costly throughout the match. The team dropped some simple catches, missed simple stumbles and gave the SRH batsmen some lifelines. Klaasen and Kishan made the most of these errors and punished the bowlers after being dropped repeatedly.
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SRH dominate with bat and ball
The match was largely decided on the powerplay. SRH openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head attacked from the start and took the team to 79/1 in six overs. In contrast, Punjab struggled badly and ended their power play at 57/3 after the quick wickets of Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer.Abhishek smashed 35 off just 13 balls while Head scored 38 off 19 to get Hyderabad off to a perfect start. Later, Klaasen and Kishan continued the onslaught with SRH hitting a total of 17 sixes. Nitish Reddy also chipped in with a quick 29 not out.Punjab’s bowlers had a tough game, especially Marco Jansen and Arshdeep Singh, who combined to miss 100 runs in eight overs. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal finished with decent numbers but got little support from the fielders.
Cooper Connolly’s century is in vain
For Punjab Kings, Cooper Connolly struggled on his own with an unbeaten 107 off 59 balls, but the target was always too steep after a poor start. SRH bowlers Pat Cummins and Eshan Malinga kept it tight with crucial wickets and dots, ensuring Punjab never really threatened the chase.The loss marked Punjab’s ninth straight IPL defeat in Hyderabad and third straight defeat this season.
