Dhawan’s 99 lifts Punjab Kings to 143/9 against SRH

Hyderabad, Apr 9 (PTI) Skipper Shikhar Dhawan stood tall among the ruins with a 66-ball unbeaten 99 that lifted Punjab Kings to 143 for nine against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.

This was after spinner Mayank Markande did the star turn with figures of 4 for 15 to leave Punjab Kings reeling at 88 for nine in the 15th over. Dhawan hit 12 fours and five sixes.

Even as Punjab Kings lost wickets at regular intervals, Dhawan showed his teammates how to do it with his incredible knock.

Asked to bat first, Punjab Kings endured a disastrous start as they lost Prabhsimran Singh in the very first ball of the match, trapped in front of the wicket by veteran India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The ball hit him above the knee roll but Prabhsimran decided to walk back without asking for a review, leaving Punjab at none for one.

Skipper Shikhar Dhawan played Bhuvneshwar towards the third man region for the innings first boundary.

However, Dhawan again watched from the non-striker’s end as Matthew Short (1) was dismissed lbw by South African left-arm pacer Marco Jansen on the second delivery of the match’s second over at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

The ball landed on a good length and swung in before hitting Short’s pads. Unlike Prabhsimran, Short consulted his skipper before deciding to come back into the dugout, leaving Punjab Kings in a spot of bother at 10 for two in the second over.

Next ball, and another swinging delivery struck wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma (4) on the pads, and a Jansen’s loud shout for an lbw was upheld by the umpire. DRS was promptly taken and the ball-tracking technology showed it was going well down the leg-side, leading to the decision being overturned and giving some relief to PBKS.

Dhawan found two fours off his Indian team colleague Bhuvneshwar, before Jansen returned to send back Jitesh Sharma, who failed to clear SRH skipper Aiden Markram at mid-off.

Sam Curran struck a six and a four off successive Jansen deliveries but, after having made 22 off 15 balls, the English all-rounder was done in by leg-spinner Markande, who finished with fine figures after the SRH’s seamers brilliant display at the start.

But Dhawan had other ideas as he smashed the SRH bowlers to take his team to a respectable total. Helping Dhawan along the way was Bhuvneshwar, who spilled three chances by the batter, including two off his own bowling.