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A one-man-army effort in the form of skipper Shikhar Dhawan helped Punjab Kings reach a respectable total of 143/9 in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Put to bat first by SRH, PBKS was off to a terrible start as they lost opener Prabhsimran on the very first ball after he was trapped leg-before-wicket by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Matthew Short, who had made a name for himself in Australia's Big Bash League (BBL) had a forgettable IPL debut as he was trapped lbw by Marco Jansen for just one run, while Jitesh Sharma could also make only four, leaving PBKS at 22/3 in 3.5 overs. Skipper Shikhar and Sam Curran stepped up, helping PBKS cross the powerplay overs without any further damage. At the end of six overs, PBKS was at 41/3, with Shikhar (21*) and Curran (12*) unbeaten. PBKS crossed the 50-run mark in 7.1 overs. The budding partnership between Curran-Shikhar was ended by Mayank Markande, who dismissed Curran for 22 off 15 balls, consisting of three fours and a six. The batter was caught by Bhuvneshwar at short third man, reducing PBKS to 63/4 in 8.5 overs. Sikandar Raza came in as an impact player in place of Prabhsimran Singh, but his disappointing run continued with a score of five in six balls before he was dismissed by Umran Malik. Half of the PBKS side was in the pavilion for 69 runs in 9.5 overs. At the end of 10 overs, PBKS was at 73/5, with Shikhar (33*) joined by Shahrukh Khan (3*) at the crease. Umran and Markande continued to offer a cocktail of pace and spin that PBKS could not handle, as Shahrukh (4), Harpreet Brar (1) and Rahul Chahar (0) were removed by the duo, with Markande getting two of these scalps. PBKS sunk to 78/8 in 12.5 overs. Markande finished with his best bowling spell in IPL, taking 4/15 in his four overs, after he dismissed Nathan Ellis for a five-ball duck. PBKS was reduced to 88/9 in 15 overs, with Shikhar (47*) as his side's last hope. Dhawan brought up his 49th IPL half-century, hitting Natrajan for two successive sixes. PBKS reached the 100-run mark in 15.5 overs. Dhawan continued to fight for his side single-handedly, smashing Umran for 17 runs in the 18th over, including two sixes and a four. With help of Dhawan's heroics, PBKS managed to end their innings at 143/9 in 20 overs. Dhawan was unbeaten at 99 off 66 balls, consisting of 12 fours and 5 sixes. Mohit Rathee was unbeaten at (1*) on other end. Markande (4/15) was the leading bowler for SRH. Malik (2/32) and Jansen (2/16) also took two scalps. Bhuvneshwar got one wicket. Brief Scores: PBKS: 143/9 (Shikhar Dhawan 99*, Sam Curran 22, Mayank Markande 4/15) vs SRH. (ANI)
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