Livingstone, Brar give PBKS a winning end

Liam Livingstone's fiery, unbeaten 49 secured a winning end to the season for Punjab Kings as they chased down Sunrisers Hyderabad's 157 for 8 with 29 balls to spare. Inspite of the fighting sixth-wicket stand between Romario Shepherd and Washington Sundar at the death, SRH posted a sub-par total to bow out with the eighth defeat of their season. A steady start to chase Though Jonny Bairstow's attempts to haunt his old teammates was nipped in the bud by Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shikhar Dhawan gave the chasing side some early impetus when he went after Jagadeesha Suchith in the sixth over to take PBKS to 62 for 1 in 6 overs. A brief wobble and a Livingstone special? Like SRH, PBKS too got jolted right after the PowerPlay. Umran Malik dismissed Shahrukh Khan with a quick short ball while Mayank Agarwal's underwhelming tournament didn't see a turn even in the last outing as he fell to Washington Sundar in the following over. But then.... ....in stepped Livingstone He started off with a six over deep midwicket - giving a small glimpse of what was to follow in the chase. His next victim was Umran, who bowled with a spring to his step but saw two of his deliveries sent soaring for successive sixes. With that the equation for PBKS was down to 66 off 66. Farooqi tried to turn the tide with his dismissal of Dhawan - for 39 off 32, and Suchith ended Jitesh Sharma's stay for a 7-ball 19 - but both these wickets came a little too late. Livingstone's six-hitting frenzy meant even at that stage PBKS needed just 25 off the last six overs. That got dwarfed to just 2 after the 23-run over off Shepherd, where Livingstone went ballistic. He ended the over unbeaten on 49 off 22, with two fours and five sixes to his name. Prerak Mankad finished off the chase on the first ball of the following over. About the first innings... Steady start for SRH Though Priyam Garg couldn't replicate his pyrotechnics from the previous fixture, SRH were off to a steady start, getting to 43 for 1 in six overs. One of SRH's batting constants this season - Abhishek Sharma - was just getting started in the company of Rahul Tripathi. Spun around by Harpreet Brar SRH were poised to blaze away but left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar had other ideas. He began with a wicket off a leg side freebie that Tripathi hit straight to short third man but then dismissed Abhishek as well as Aiden Markram. In between Abhishek and Markram's departures was the exit of Pooran, who fell for a 10-ball five off Nathan Ellis. At the 16 over mark, SRH were down to 99 for 5 and staring at an embarrassingly sub-par total. How did they get to 157/8 then? Thanks to Sundar and Shepherd! The pair started off by carting 17 runs off Ellis in the 17th over that came right after the strategic timeout. While Sundar saw through Ellis's change of pace, Shepherd swung hard against shorter lengths to clear the square leg fence. Washington reserved the best shot of the night for a ball from Kagiso Rabada, launching it over wide mid-off with a stylish uppish drive. Sundar also sneaked in a cheeky scoop shot and Rabada bowled a wide for a four in a 19-run over that suddenly gave SRH the sort of lift they desperately needed. The last two overs went for 12 and 10 as Sundar finished with 25 off 19 and Shepherd managed 26 off 15 - but their superlative efforts proved inadequate on the night. Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 157/8 (Abhishek Sharma 43, Romario Shepherd 26, Washington Sundar 25; Harpreet Brar 3-26, Nathan Ellis 3-26) lost to Punjab Kings 160/5 in 15.1 overs (Liam Livingston 49*, Shikhar Dhawan 39; Fazalhaq Farooqi 2-32) by 5 wickets