IPL 2018: Ageless Chris Gayle tops Kings XI Punjab vs Sunrisers Hyderabad report card; Rashid Khan comes a cropper

Kings XI Punjab stopped the unbeaten run of Sunrisers Hyderabad as they beat the Kane Williamson-led side by 15 runs in Mohali on Thursday. The match was lit up by Chris Gayle’s unbeaten knock of 104 off just 63 deliveries that helped Punjab post a total of 193/3. The Punjab bowlers then did a brilliant job to restrict the visitors to 178/4 even though Williamson and Manish Pandey registered a half-century each. Let us now have a look at how all the 22 players fared in the match: 10/10 Chris Gayle The big Jamaican once again proved that age is just a number for him. He romped to his 21st T20 century on Thursday – an innings studded with a four and 11 monstrous sixes. Andrew Tye The Australian bowler had gone for some runs in the previous matches. [caption id=“attachment_4439337” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Kings XI Punjab’s Chris Gayle celebrates his century during the IPL 2018 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mohali. AFP[/caption] However, he bowled an excellent spell of 4-0-23-2 on Thursday that helped Kings XI Punjab defend their total. His efforts resulted in the wickets of Williamson and Deepak Hooda, which dented Sunrisers Hyderabad considerably. 9/10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar Bhuvneshwar bowled very well during that carnage by Gayle as he conceded just 25 runs from his four overs. He gave away just seven runs in his first two overs and then returned once again at the death to claim the wicket of Karun Nair. Bhuvneshwar ended up with figures of 4-0-25-1. 8/10 Kane Williamson Williamson compiled a fine innings of 54 runs off just 41 deliveries. However, he failed to kick on and accelerate as his innings was cut short by Tye in the 15th over. Manish Pandey Like Williamson, Pandey also failed to maintain the required run rate, even though he ended up as the top scorer with an unbeaten knock of 57 runs off 42 deliveries. Barinder Sran The former Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler bowled his heart out for his new franchise as he returned figures of 4-0-22-0. The Sunrisers batsmen found it difficult to play him and Shikhar Dhawan had to retire hurt after being struck by his delivery on his left elbow. 7/10 Karun Nair Nair walked out to bat when Punjab had lost their second wicket with 83 runs on the board in the 11th over. He stitched together a partnership of 85 runs for the fourth wicket with Gayle and took the total to 168 before he departed in the 18th over, having scored 31 off 21 deliveries. Mujeeb Ur Rahman The 17-year old Afghan spinner impressed once again with an economical spell even though he didn’t pick up any wicket. Mujeeb conceded just 27 runs in his four overs and thus didn’t allow any of the Sunrisers batsmen to score freely. Aaron Finch Finch had walked out to the middle at the fall of the third wicket in the 18th over and did exactly what he was supposed to do. He raced away to 14 runs off just six deliveries with the help of a four and a six. Siddharth Kaul Kaul tried his best to take wickets and keep the run flow in check. Although he claimed the wicket of Mayank Agarwal, he conceded 33 runs in his four overs at an economy rate of over eight. 6/10 Mayank Agarwal Agarwal walked out to bat at the fall of KL Rahul’s wicket in the eight over with Punjab’s score at 53/1. He started hitting it big from the word go and smashed 18 runs off just nine deliveries before he holed out to Hooda at point off Kaul. This match saw him failing to build on a fabulous start once again. Chris Jordan Jordan bowled pretty well but was unfortunate not to have any wickets to show for his efforts. He bowled some very good yorkers and slower balls and ended up with figures of 4-0-31-0. Shakib Al Hasan Like the other Sunrisers bowlers, Shakib also turned out to be expensive, leaking 28 runs in his spell of two overs. However, he played a cameo of 24 runs off just 12 deliveries, which unfortunately came in a losing cause. Mohit Sharma Although Mohit picked up the important wickets of Wriddhiman Saha and Yusuf Pathan at the start, it was sort of offset by him conceding 55 runs in four overs at an economy of nearly 14 runs per over. 5/10 Deepak Hooda Hooda couldn’t do his job with the bat. However, he bowled a good little spell of two overs conceding just six runs when Gayle was kicking up a storm. KL Rahul Rahul didn’t seem like his own free-flowing self on Thursday as he struggled to get going. He took 21 deliveries to score 18 runs before being dismissed leg before by Rashid Khan. 4/10 Yusuf Pathan Pathan walked out to bat higher up the order at No 4 on Thursday, but failed to make it big as he managed only 19 runs off 13 deliveries even after getting two lives. 3/10 Rashid Khan The Afghan spinner was taken to the cleaners by Gayle as he kept hitting him for big sixes with ease. The third over of his spell was the most painful for Rashid as Gayle picked him for four consecutive sixes. The Afghan leg-spinner, who usually bowls with supreme control, failed to do so on Thursday in the face of Gayle’s blitzkrieg and ended up with figures of 4-0-55-1. 2/10 Ravichandran Ashwin Ashwin marshalled his troops really well. However, it was not his best day at work as he conceded 53 runs in his four overs and also dropped a catch that could have dismissed Pathan. 1/10 Wriddhiman Saha Saha wasn’t clean with his work behind the stumps on Thursday. Moreover, he failed to provide impetus to the Sunrisers innings after Dhawan was retired hurt, scoring only six runs off seven deliveries before Mohit cleaned him up. Yuvraj Singh – NA It would be unfair to rate Yuvraj’s performance just on the basis of his fielding as he neither got a chance to bat nor bowl. Shikhar Dhawan – NA The same goes for Dhawan who was retired hurt after being struck on his arm on the very first delivery he faced. It is not possible to rate his performance even though he was good in the field and took a very good catch. Rating chart: 10-9: Excellent, 8-7: Good, 6-5: Average, 4-3: Poor, 2-1: Very poor