A tidy bowling effort by Ravi Bishnoi (3-24) and Mohammed Shami (2-14) helped Punjab Kings defend 125 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on a sluggish track at Sharjah to keep their playoffs alive on Saturday night.
Defending that modest total, Shami removed David Warner and Kane Williamson with his new-ball burst to peg Sunrisers back at the start of their run-chase. In the middle-order they failed to find a batter who could change gears in the middle overs.
Sunrisers made only 20 in the Powerplay – their lowest in IPL history, and never recovered from that. Leg-spinner Bishnoi, playing his first game of this renewed season, then made the most of the rising asking rate by bowling googlies and taking important breakthroughs in the middle-overs.
The only resistance came from Jason Holder, who scored an unbeaten 29-ball 47 and threatened to take the game away from Punjab after Sunrisers lost half of their side in 13 overs, slipping to 60/5.
At one point Hyderabad needed 23 in 16 balls, but young Arshdeep Singh bowled a brilliant 19th over in which he gave away just four runs to give Nathan Ellis 17 to defend in the final over, which the Aussie pacer did successfully.
Earlier, opting to bowl, Sunrisers bowlers had the upper hand right from the beginning. Holder (3-19) emerged as the most successful bowler, ably supported by Sandeep Sharma (1-20), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1-34), Rashid Khan (1-17) and Abdul Samad (1-9).
For Punjab, South African batter Aiden Markram (27) was the top-scorer, while K.L. Rahul contributed with a run-a-ball 21 at the top. No one else reached 20 though several reached double figures.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 125/7 in 20 overs (Markram 27; Holder 3-19) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 120 for 7 in 20 overs (Holder 47*; Bishnoi 3-24) by 5 runs. Player of the Match: Jason Holder