Sunrisers Hyderabad have finally succumbed to their first loss of the season, thanks to Chris Gayle (104* off 63 balls) scoring his sixth IPL ton and his 21st overall in T20s.
Playing at home Ashwin won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. They went in with an unchanged team which meant both Gayle and Finch had another chance to prove their worth.
Gayle, fresh from a 60 odd against CSK in his last game, hit the first ton of the season which included 11 sixes and just a solitary four. He plundered the SRH bowling and took them to the cleaners. In the process, he hit the number one T20I bowler Rashid Khan for four sixes in one of his overs.
The SRH chase got off to a worst possible start chasing 194 for victory. Shikhar Dhawan was retired in the very first over. Kane Williamson (54) notched up his second fifty of the season. Coupled with Manish Pandey's 54 and Shakib Al Hasan's 24 Hyderabad reached 178 in their 20 overs.
But tonight's clash was all about Chris Gayle and his match-winning century. By virtue of his knock, Punjab defeated Hyderabad for the very first time in their own backyard.
Twitter was buzzing all through congratulating Gayle for his heroics. Also, they reacted to Sunrisers Hyderabad's first loss of the season. Here are the best tweets consoling Hyderabad's first defeat of the campaign.
Chasing 193 even on a flat track not easy. With Dhawan injured early, Sunrisers badly missing a big striking batsman
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 19, 2018
On paper it was 15 runs between the teams. But, truth be told, @sunrisers were never really in this chase.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 19, 2018
Unable to understand the strategy behind the #SRH Batting order ????????#KXIPvsSRH #IPL2018
— subramani badrinath (@s_badrinath) April 19, 2018
Pandey unbeaten at stumps #KXIPvSRH
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 19, 2018
The one and possibly only weakness of this @SunRisers team. Can they chase down a big score with this batting line up? #stillfavourites
— Scott Styris (@scottbstyris) April 19, 2018
Deserving winners @lionsdenkxip with @SDhawan25 injury chances dimmed. @SunRisers had all the supporting role actors but the hero was missing. #KXIPvSRH
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) April 19, 2018
15 runs short with 6 wickets in hand. Not really the ideal run chase for SRH. Couldn’t really pace it well. #KXIPvSRH #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 19, 2018
Gayle was brilliant but Sran's opening spell really bogged SRH down. Also on a day when three quality spinners Rashid, Shakib ad Ashwin were hit all round for more than 13 per over, young Mujeeb with 4-0-27-0 was outstanding. #KXIPvSRH
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 19, 2018