Advertisement

Chennai wins against Kolkata, Hyderabad beats Punjab in IPL

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Chennai Super Kings overcame Pat Cummins’ onslaught with the bat to earn an 18-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday, and Sunrisers Hyderabad finally got their first points in the Indian Premier League by beating Punjab Kings by nine wickets.

Cummins, batting at No. 8, made an unbeaten 66 off just 34 balls before Kolkata were bowled out for 202 with five balls to spare in a high-scoring thriller at Mumbai.

Chennai had posted an imposing 220-3 with Faf du Plessis smashing 95 not out off 60 balls and Ruturaj Gaikwad (64) making his first half century this season.

Fast bowler Deepak Chahar’s second four-wicket haul in three games had left Kolkata reeling at 31-5 inside the batting powerplay before Andre Russell (54) and Cummins led a stunning run-chase.

Russell blazed six sixes and three fours in a whirlwind 81-run stand with Dinesh Karthik (40) before Sam Curran (1-58) provided the much-needed breakthrough.

The left-arm England fast bowler clean bowled Russell around the legs as the West Indies power-hitter tried to leave the ball in the 12th over.

But Cummins, who returned with expensive figures of 58-0 in Chennai's innings, gave Kolkata a sniff when he hit four sixes and a four in Curran’s 16th over.

However, Cummins ran out partners in an attempt to keep the strike in the last three overs as Chennai recorded their third successive win in the tournament.

Earlier at Chennai, Sunrisers Hyderabad finally got across the line after three unsuccessful chases in the tournament when they recorded a resounding win against Punjab.

Punjab folded for 120 in 19.4 overs after captain Lokesh Rahul won the toss and elected to bat.

Jonny Bairstow’s unbeaten 63 off 56 balls ensured Hyderabad, which had lost three in a row, didn’t face any more hiccups in run-chasing this season as they cruised to 121-1 in 18.4 overs.

Kane Williamson recovered from a troublesome elbow which had kept the New Zealander out of previous three games and remained not out with 16 off 19 balls.

Bairstow and captain David Warner (37) yet again gave Hyderabad a strong start of 73 runs from 10 overs before Warner holed out in the deep while going for a big shot against left-arm spinner Fabian Allen.

“It’s been really close in most of the games, and haven’t got through. Probably through carelessness, to be honest,” Bairstow said as his team failed to capitalize on good starts in the previous three unsuccessful chases.

Earlier, Punjab’s top-order batsmen continued to struggle — especially West Indies duo Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran. The pair was dismissed before the halfway mark and left their team in trouble at 47-4 in the ninth over.

Gayle was trapped leg before wicket for 15 by Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan and Pooran was out for his third score of zero in four innings when he was run-out without facing a ball.

Fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed, who had earlier removed opening batsman Mayank Agarwal (22), took two late wickets to finish with 3-21. Leftarm spinner Abhishek Sharma took 2-24.

“A few batsmen got set and couldn’t get those 30s-40s that could get us through,” Rahul said. “Every game from now is important for us and we’ve always been in that situation, where we get in a place where we have to win every game.”

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports