Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 69 leads Punjab Kings to victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad

Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 69 guided Punjab Kings to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. Iyer's knock helped PBKS chase down 220, after SRH set a challenging target with Abhishek Sharma’s blistering 74 earlier in the game

Mullanpur: Shreyas Iyer once again proved his worth as a leader and batter, guiding Punjab Kings to a commanding six-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in an Indian Premier League match here on Saturday.

After astute captaincy, Shreyas led by example with an unbeaten 69 off 33 balls to help PBKS chase down a daunting target of 220 with seven balls to spare.

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The foundation for the victory was laid by a rollicking 99-run opening stand between Priyansh Arya (57 off 20 balls) and Prabhsimran Singh (51 off 25), after Abhishek Sharma unleashed a brutal onslaught with a blistering 28-ball 74 to power SRH to 219 for six.

Sent in to bat, Abhishek and Travis Head (38 off 23 balls) blew away the PBKS bowlers with a 120-run opening partnership in just 8.1 overs.

The home team, however, made a strong comeback with the ball after Shashank Singh (2/20 in 3 overs) removed both openers in one over, and as a result, SRH, who were 120 for no loss at the start of the ninth over, ended just short of 220.

Xavier Bartlett (1/42 in 4 overs) bowled a brilliant final over, conceding just five runs.

Abhishek smashed eight sixes and five fours.

In reply, PBKS got the start they needed and raced to 93 for no loss in the powerplay, with the opening duo of Priyansh and Prabhsimran going hammer and tongs at the SRH bowlers.

Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey leaked 18 runs in the first over, providing PBKS with the perfect launch pad.

Prabhsimran danced down the ground to hit a couple of sixes, including one against veteran left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat, even as Eshan Malinga gave away 17 runs.

Priyansh then hammered Harshal Patel for 6, 6, 4, 4 to race to a 16-ball fifty.

Shivam Sharma raised SRH hopes by picking three wickets, but Shreyas completed the job for his side.

Earlier, Abhishek got off the blocks quickly and launched into Arshdeep to collect 24 runs with the help of two fours and two sixes, including a straight hit and another off a top edge over third man.

Marco Jansen, too, was taken to the cleaners with 16 runs in the left-arm quick’s first over as SRH reached 60 for no loss in four overs.

Abhishek reached his half-century in 18 balls with a six over long-on off a Vyshak Vijaykumar slower ball, and two balls later a low full toss was lofted over long-on for another six, signalling the end of another 24-run over, which propelled SRH to 84 for no loss in five overs, the best powerplay score at this venue.

Abhishek celebrated his first half-century of the season and received a hug from Head, before the two resumed their power hitting.

Bartlett came back but the onslaught continued as Head struck three consecutive boundaries and Abhishek smashed one over deep midwicket for a six to bring up SRH’s 100 inside the powerplay.

With his front-line seamers leaking runs, Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer introduced Shashank Singh and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to slow things down, and the former gave away just six runs in his first over.

Leg-spinner Chahal conceded only three runs in his first five balls before Abhishek danced down the wicket to hit him for a six.

Continuing with Shashank paid off for PBKS as he effected the first breakthrough with a delivery that Head hit to the fielder at long-on.

Shashank struck again as Abhishek was caught by Arshdeep after the batter miscued a fuller-length ball.

Showing clever captaincy, Shreyas gave Chahal another over and, in the context of the game, he delivered by conceding just nine runs.

SRH skipper Ishan Kishan (27 off 17) was dismissed by Arshdeep, while Heinrich Klaasen (39 off 33) was dismissed in the final over.