IPL 2018: Not The Result We Would Have Liked, Says Virender Sehwag After Disappointing Loss To Sunrisers Hyderabad
Credits: BCCI

Kings XI Punjab’s 4-match winning run came to an end in a disappointing fashion on Thursday (April 26). High flying Kings XI Punjab started the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad as the firm favourites. And by the time their bowling ended, it looked they would thrash the Sunrisers.

Ravichandran Ashwin’s decision to bowl first was fully justified by his bowlers as they restricted Sunrisers to a modest 132 for 6. Ankit Rajpoot starred with the ball, running through the Sunrisers’ lineup to finish the game with stunning figures of five for 14 off his 4 overs.  He sent back the hosts’ top-three –  Kane Williamson, Shikhar Dhawan, and Wriddhiman Saha – for just 28 runs.

IPL 2018: Not The Result We Would Have Liked, Says Virender Sehwag After Disappointing Loss To Sunrisers Hyderabad
Credits: BCCI

Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan then stopped the rot for a while.  The duo managed to steady the ship but could not quite accelerate before Mujeeb Ur Rahman broke the stand. The Afghanistan spinner accounted for Shakib to end the 52-run stand. The Bangladesh star scored  28 off 29. Pandey remained till the very end, scoring 54  to help his side post a respectable total.

In reply, Chris Gayle and KL Rahul laid the foundation for an easy chase by adding 55 runs for the first wicket. The stand seemed to have put an end to the contest. However, Sunrisers dismissed both the openers in a space of two runs to claw their way back in the game. From thereon, the Kings XI kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were eventually all out for 119.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad
Credits: BCCI

With the match ending on a disappointing note, Kings XI mentor Virender Sehwag took to Twitter to count out the positives from the season so far. He also congratulated Sunrisers for the stunning win and hailed Rajpoot’s show as he tweeted:

“Not the result we would have liked, but happy with the first half of the tournament.5 out of 7 we will take it. Have a week’s break now. Congratulations @SunRisers on the victory & a great effort from young Ankit Rajpoot becoming the first Punjab bowler to take a 5-for”

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