IPL 2022: Riding on Liam Livingstone’s 22-ball 49 not out, Punjab Kings won the last league game of the season, hammering SunRisers Hyderabad by 5 wickets in Mumbai on Sunday, May 22.
HIGHLIGHTS
- PBKS finished the season at the 6th spot with 14 points
- Livingstone hit 5 sixes in his match-winning knock of 49
- PBKS miss out of playoffs spot for 8th successive season
Punjab Kings finished their campaign with a comfortable victory in the final league game of IPL 2022 against SunRisers Hyderabad, leaving their fans wondering what could have been had they held onto some clutch moments better through the season. Riding on Liam Livingstone’s blitzkrieg, who hit the 1000th six of the ongoing season, PBKS made light work of a 158-run target at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Punjab Kings moved to the 6th spot in the IPL 2022 points table, leapfrogging Kolkata Knight Riders with 14 points from 14 matches but it did not mean anything for the former finalists as they missed out on the playoffs for the 8 successive years after reaching the final in 2014.
Punjab, led by Mayank Agarwal, failed to win back-to-back matches even once in the season despite playing an eye-catching brand of cricket.
Punjab Kings chased down the 158-run target in just 15.1 overs as the likes of Livingstone (49 not out of 22), Shikhar Dhawan (39 off 32), Shah Rukh Khan (19 off 10) and Jitesh Sharma (19 off 7) flexed their muscles, showcasing one more time the power-hitting option that PBKS have opted for this season.
POWER-HITTING AT ITS BEST
Punjab Kings have paid the price for going overboard with their power-hitting but on Sunday, it worked out wonderfully well on a difficult pitch where SunRisers batters struggled.
“With the brand of cricket we played, there are going to be times it won’t come off and we won’t look good. We couldn’t stitch back-to-back wins. As a batting unit, we lost wickets in a cluster. We have been a very positive unit. Lot of it we will discuss now after the IPL. We were here and we meant business and looked to execute things to the best of our ability,” captain Mayank Agarwal said after the final league game of IPL 2022.
Jonny Bairstow got off to a flying start but fell to Fazalhaq Farooqi for 23 off 15 balls. However, Shikhar Dhawan and Shahrukh Khan, who returned to the XI and batted at No 3, hit 19 off 10 balls to keep the charge going.
PBKS were in a spot of bother when they lost Sharhukh, and Mayank Agarwal (1 off 4 balls) in successive overs. However, Liam Livingstone went berserk from the word go, transferring the pressure right back on the SunRisers.
Livingstone hit 5 sixes and 2 boundaries as he took the chase away from SunRisers, who finished 8th on the points table with 10 points.
Young Jitesh Sharma impressed a six and 3 boundaries as he made sure SunRisers had no chances of pulling things back.
