Sunrisers Hyderabad won their first match of IPL 2023 against Punjab Kings, who faced their first defeat of the tournament. Punjab Kings had previously won their matches against Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. The defeat saw Punjab Kings fall to the sixth place on the IPL points table. The team’s loss was largely due to a batting collapse, with none of their batters being able to step up, except skipper Shikhar Dhawan and all-rounder Sam Curran, who scored in double digits.
Despite wickets falling continuously, Dhawan played a brilliant innings to help his team put up a respectable total on the board. He scored 99 runs off 66 deliveries with an impressive strike rate of 150, including 12 fours and five sixes. In the post-match presentation ceremony, Dhawan jokingly asked cricket expert Harsha Bhogle if he was happy with his strike rate, in reference to a tweet by Bhogle where he had raised concerns about Dhawan’s strike rate in his earlier innings against Rajasthan Royals.
Shikhar Dhawan now has five 90+ scores in IPL
Referring to this tweet by Harsha, Dhawan with a wide smile said:
‘I hope you are happy with my strike rate’
During the post-match presentation, Dhawan jokingly asked Bhogle if he was satisfied with his strike rate against SRH. Bhogle later took to Twitter to clarify that he had a “mature” conversation with Dhawan after the match. Dhawan explained that he had struggled to hit boundaries in a previous match against RR, which had contributed to his low strike rate.
Mayank Markande, who made his name while playing for Mumbai Indians, played a major role in dismantling the Punjab Kings’ lower-middle order. He took four crucial wickets for just 15 runs in four overs, following a remarkable spell by Marco Jansen who had taken two wickets for 16 runs in three overs. As a result, the Sunrisers Hyderabad restricted the Punjab Kings to 143/9 after 20 overs.
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