On the verge of making the playoffs, Sunrisers Hyderabad needed just one more win to officially seal their spot in the top 4 and qualify for the next leg of the tournament. Sunrisers Hyderabad took on Kings XI Punjab in the 46th match of VIVO IPL.
| Kings Xi Punjab | vs | Sunrisers Hyderabad |
| Date | 15 May 2016 | |
| Venue | Punjab Cricket Association Stadium | |
| 179/4 (20) | 180/3 (19.4) | |
Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 7 wickets |
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Kings XI won the toss and opted to bat. Making one change to their side in keeping Cariappa on the bench and bringing IN Anureet Singh. Sunrisers made 2 changes of bringing IN Cutting and Karn Sharma and leaving out Williamson and Sran.
Having brought Amla as replacement for Shaun Marsh, Kings XI desired an innings truly fitting to the talent that Amala possesses and thus far he hadn’t delivered as per that. They required him to make some quick runs at the top and give innings a strong base.
This innings from Amla delivered on just that. The beginning of his innings suggested that he was finding the ball easy to time and he looked like squeezing the field with no trouble. Amla’s 96 in 56 became the center point of the innings around which 20’s from Saha, Gurkeerat and Miller gave the strength to take the score par 170.
14 fours and 2 sixes, Amla’s elegance was visible throughout his innings – reminding how easy it is for him to make runs when he gets going, truly elegant and stylish – a true morale booster for the Kings XI dugout. The final score for Kings XI was 179 for 4 in 20 overs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad in their chase had some pressure on themselves, leaving the last win for too long would’ve only resulted in increasing pressure – 8th win for them guaranteed a spot and this win would do that.
A big chase required the captain to step IN and take the responsibility and Warner did just that. 52 in 41 balls gave Hyderabad the start that they much required; while it is anyways understood that when captain takes the onus of starting the innings on a good note the chase does begin to see a positive light.
Hooda was promoted up the order to bat at 1st down and he was pretty much sent as a pinch-hitter to make some quick runs and get the run rate in control as by his usual standards, Warner was slightly less aggressive as one would expect him to be.
Hooda made a 22 ball 34 which included 3 fours and 1 six. Dhawan’s innings didn’t have much to mention about, a 22 ball 25 with 4 fours was par for the course but nothing too exceptional or match-turning.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s situation demanded them to expect big of Yuvraj as they needed to go at 10 to the over in the last 5 and with Yuvraj known as a smasher of the ball; only he could guide them to victory. Supporting him at the other end was the big hitting all-rounder from Australia in Ben Cutting.
Yuvraj stood true to his caliber on his home-ground and played the match winning knock of 42 in 24 balls – being the main aggressor in the last few overs. Cutting’s 18 in 11 was also impressive as it included 2 massive sixes, laying down support to Yuvraj at the other end.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have now qualified for the play-offs with 3 spots still open and 5 teams fighting out for it, eliminating Pune and Punjab.
Squads for 15 May 2016 Match 46
Kings XI Punjab
Murali Vijay (C), David Miller, Kyle Abbott, Anureet Singh, Armaan Jaffer, Farhaan Behardien, KC Cariappa, Rishi Dhawan, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Nikhil Naik, Axar Patel, Wriddhiman Saha (W), Pradeep Sahu, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, Swapnil Singh, Shardul Thakur, Manan Vohra, Hashim Amla
Sunrisers Hyderabad
David Warner (C), Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Trent Boult, Ben Cutting, Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Eoin Morgan, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha (W), Vijay Shankar, Karn Sharma, Barinder Sran, Tirumalasetti Suman, Aditya Tare, Kane Williamson, Yuvraj Singh
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