NewsPunjab
7 May 2026
Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Punjab Kings by 33 runs in an important match of IPL and took the first place in the points table. In this match played at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, the Hyderabad team, which lost the toss and elected to bat first, posted a huge score of 235 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 20 overs. In reply, the Punjab Kings team could only score 202 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs. Cooper Connolly played a brilliant innings of 107 not out for Punjab, but could not give the team victory.
With this win, Hyderabad has won 7 out of 11 matches and has secured the top spot in the points table with 14 points and a net run rate of 0.737. Punjab Kings are second, Royal Challengers Bengaluru third and Rajasthan Royals fourth.
Chasing a target of 236, Punjab Kings got off to a disappointing start, losing 2 wickets for just 4 runs. After this, Cooper Connolly took over. He shared a 19-run partnership with captain Shreyas Iyer, while adding a quick 40 runs with Marcus Stoinis. Connolly continued the fight alone and completed his maiden IPL century off 59 balls with the help of 7 fours. He remained unbeaten on 107 runs.
Earlier, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head gave a brilliant start for Hyderabad, adding 54 runs in just 3.3 overs. Abhishek played a quick innings of 35 runs in just 13 balls. After this, Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen put on a brilliant partnership of 88 runs for the third wicket to put the team in a strong position. Ishan scored 55 runs in 32 balls, while in the end, Nitish Reddy added 29 runs not out in 13 balls to take the score to 235.
The day was not good for Punjab Kings in terms of bowling. Marco Janssen conceded 61 runs in 4 overs and could not take any wickets. While Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal and Vijaykumar Visak took 1 wicket each.
