With a prominent bowling display, Punjab pulled off a finest defend in the tournament history to defeat Hyderabad with a total of 126. Chris Jordan's exceptional bowling helped Punjab to get two vital points to boost their playoff hopes.
Toss: Hyderabad opted to bowl first
Team Changes: Mandeep Singh and Chris Jordan come in (Punjab)
Khaleel Ahmed comes in (Hyderabad)
Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Detailed Match Report
After losing his father last night, Mandeep Singh started the opening with KL Rahul. Sandeep Sharma got Mandeep out to get his 100th wickets in the tournament. Gayle and Rahul showed steadiness but Hyderabad got both batsmen on successive deliveries. Punjab didn’t recover from these big blows, despite Pooran’s unbeaten 32. Rashid Khan went for just 14 runs in 4-overs, picking two wickets. Holder and Sandeep also scalped two wickets each. The struggling approach couldn’t manage more runs and Punjab posted a mere total of 126.
Hyderabad started the chase with a positive note as they didn’t try much. They kept the run-rate high to boost the NRR. They looked in hurry in this chase and scored 52 in powerplay without losing a wicket. Ravi Bishnoi got Warner after 20-balls 35 to draw first blood for Punjab. Murugan Ashwin also struck in next over to get the big wicket of Bairstow. In 9th over, Shami scalped Abdul Samad to give Hyderabad third blow. Punjab tried to form a collapase after the powerplay but Shankar and Manish Pandey showed some defensive approach. Ravi Bishnoi put an excellent spell with just 13 runs in 4-overs, including a wicket. Jordan picked Pandey's wicket in 17th over and Arshdeep Singh picked Vijay Shankar in next over to put Punjab on driver's seat. Jordan sealed the game with picking two wickets in 19th over, conceding just 3 runs. In final over, Arshdeep defended 14 to help Punjab a thrilling win.
Star Performer of the Match
Chris Jordan is our star performer of the match. After a blistering start in powerplay, match was slipping from Punjab's hand and Jordan rescued his side to face elimination. The English bowler bowled an exceptional 19th over with picking two wickets on two balls. He finished his spell with 4-0-17-3 to help Punjab to win this do-die clash.
Top 5 players who made an impact in the game
Rashid Khan 4-0-14-2
Jason Holder 4-0-27-2
Chris Jordan 4-0-17-3
David Warner 35 (20)
Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-13-1
