IPL 2024 - SRH bowlers struggle against depleted PBKS, fans express shock

    The SRH bowlers, who have been at their peak, could not dismiss the PBKS side, who are playing with just one overseas player in the squad, as the rest have returned for national duties.

    PBKS batters

    PBKS batters

    Going in with the winning combination, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are facing an already eliminated and depleted team Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the second-last game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. What has shocked fans is the way the PBKS batters got off to a good start, scoring 214 runs and losing 5 wickets. 

    The SRH bowlers, who have been at their peak, could not dismiss the PBKS side, who are playing with just one overseas player in the squad, as the rest have returned for national duties, and restrict them to a lesser score. Fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) have been discussing this and how the SRH bowlers were thrashed by PBKS batters.

    However, Punjab Kings would also be slightly disappointed with the total despite getting 19 off the final over. Their batters managed to score just 40 runs from the last 4 overs. Prabhsimran Singh (71 off 45) and Atharva Taide (46 off 27) started brilliantly by taking on the bowling and adding a 97-run stand. Rilee Rossouw (49 off 24), the only overseas player in the team, continued to attack, resulting in another 50+ stand for the second wicket.

    At 174/2 in 16 overs, Punjab would have expected a better finish and a score around 220-230. However, they lost their set batters and newcomers Shashank Singh (2 off 4) and Shashank Singh (2 off 3) early. If not for the last-over assault from skipper Jitesh Sharma (32 off 15), they would have fallen well short of a par total.

    For Sunrisers, T Natarajan picked two wickets, while Pat Cummins and V Viyaskanth picked one each, with Nitish Reddy having a good run-out.

    Teams:

    Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sanvir Singh, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, T Natarajan

    Impact Subs: Travis Head, Umran Malik, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Jaydev Unadkat

    Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w/c), Ashutosh Sharma, Shivam Singh, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar

    Impact Subs: Arshdeep Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Singh Bhatia.