Sunrisers Hyderabad failed to chase 126 runs Saturday, handing Punjab Kings a five-run win at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. It was a joint bowling effort led by Ravi Bishnoi and Mohammed Shami that helped KL Rahul and company score two important points, as they defended the lowest score at this venue in the IPL. 

Seventeen runs were needed off the last six balls with Jason Holder and Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the crease. The West Indies all-rounder hit a six after Kumar took a single off a bye on the first ball. The equation came down to 10 needed off three balls after the third one was a dot. Australia’s Nathan Ellis, who made his IPL debut in this match, held his nerve and gave only four runs in the next three deliveries, sealing the win for Punjab. 

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Jason Holder with 47 runs top-scored for Hyderabad. The only other significant effort came from opener Wriddhiman Saha’s bat, as the wicket-keeper scored 31. For Punjab, Ravi Bishnoi, coming back into the playing 11, picked three wickets and Mohammed Shami had two against his name. The attack made use of the slowness of the pitch to choke Hyderabad. 

Earlier, Holder snapped three wickets as Hyderabad restricted Punjab Kings to a modest 125 for 7. Holder (3/19) was the pick of the bowlers, while fellow pacers Sandeep Sharma (1/20), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/34), spin duo of Rashid Khan (1/17) and Abdul Samad (1/9) also chipped in with one wicket each.

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For Punjab, South African batsman Aiden Markram (27) was the top-scorer, while skipper KL Rahul contributed with run-a-ball 21 at the top.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have lost eight of their nine games, are more or less out of the playoff race. Kings with two points jump to the fifth position. 

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“Tough loss. At the halfway mark, needing 126, you obviously back yourselves to chase it. We probably left a little too much to get at the end although I did back myself to get those. The stage where I came in, I just had to go for it and it worked. Maybe that’s why it worked. Batters probably weren’t too committal earlier on. Five more games left, need to build some momentum for next season. Fans have been really passionate, we need to keep going for them,” player of the match Jason Holder said.