Shreyas Iyer led from the front with an undefeated 69 to help Punjab Kings defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets In a high-scoring IPL match in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh on Saturday.
Iyer played anchor and then dominated the opposition bowling after openers Priyansh Arya (57 from 20 balls) and Prabhsimran Singh (51) set up the PBKS chase of 220 in a stand of 99.
It was PBKS’ tenth chase of more than 200 in the IPL.
In this 10-team competition, PBKS won their third straight game to maintain their undefeated record. In one match that was postponed due to rain, they shared one point with the Kolkata Knight Riders.
With strong help from Prabhsimran, left-hander Arya dominated the first six overs of the powerplay by hitting a series of fours and sixes.
However, the two were quickly removed by left-arm wrist spinner Shivang Kumar, who finished with 3-33 after dismissing Cooper Connolly for 11.
The chase was damaged by those wickets, but Iyer’s skillful knock and 69 with impact substitute Nehal Wadhera helped to stabilize the innings.
Wadhera missed a straight one from Harsh Dubey to be bowled for 14, but Iyer changed tactics after the 14th over and hit his fifty off 24 balls as PBKS moved in on their mark.
After returning with bowling stats of 2-20, Shashank Singh joined the captain and struck the winning four in his undefeated 14 to complete a superb all-around performance.
Earlier, SRH scored 219/6 after opening batsmen Travis Head (38) and Abhishek Sharma (74 off 28 balls) combined for 120 for the first wicket.
Abhishek reached his fifty off 18 balls after ripping into the opposition assault. Eight sixes and five fours were part of his 74.
Australian batsman Head joined the assault with shots all over the field. With Head mishitting to long-on and Abhishek holing out to deep extra cover in his first over, medium-paced bowler Shashank stopped the momentum by dismissing both openers in three balls.
With some assistance from captain Ishan Kishan, who scored 27, Heinrich Klaasen tried to get things going again with his 33-ball 39, but SRH suffered from frequent fall of wickets.
