MUMBAI, May 22:
Punjab Kings ended their campaign on a winning note, crushing an already demoralised Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in an inconsequential final IPL league match here on Sunday.
Batting first, Sunrisers Hyderabad managed only 157 for 8 on a good batting track.
But it was never going to be enough as Liam Livingstone made mincemeat of a hapless SRH attack, scoring 49 not out off 22 balls, and also hitting the coveted 1000th six of the tournament.
Shikhar Dhawan (39 off 32 balls) and Jitesh Sharma (19 off 7 balls) also contributed handsomely to the team’s cause as the chase was completed in just 15.1 overs.
Punjab Kings, who haven’t made the play-offs since their final appearance in 2014, finished sixth while the Sunrisers ended their high-spending IPL on eighth in the 10-team competition.
For Livingstone, it was all about smashing big sixes once again as he hit five in all, while Dhawan helped himself to two fours and two sixes.
It was Jonny Bairstow (23 off 15 balls), who straightaway attacked Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Washington Sundar, with a flurry of boundaries to set the tempo.
It helped Dhawan to play his accumulating game as Punjab maintained their philosophy of all out attack even as Sunrisers dropped some sitters on the field.
Worst was Washington Sundar’s blooper when Livingstine tried to hit Jagadeesha Suchit against the turn and offered a dolly at point.
There were too many on-field bungles with Roamrio Shepherd’s 15th over going for 23 runs.
Earlier, Punjab Kings bowlers showed a lot of discipline, restricting SRH to 157 for 8 in 20 overs.
Arshdeep Singh (0/25 in 4 overs) celebrated his maiden India call-up with another parsimonious spell but it was his state team colleague Harpreet Brar (3/26 in 4 overs), who was the pick of the bowlers with wickets of Priyam Garg, Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram. (PTI)
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