Sharjah: Punjab Kings dished out a disciplined bowling performance to notch up a five-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a low-scoring IPL match here on Saturday.
SRH were knocked out of the race of the play-offs after the loss.
Opting to field, SRH restricted Kings to a modest 125/7 with West Indies seamer Jason Holder (3/19) emerging as the most successful bowler with his three wickets.
In reply, Sunrisers lost half of their side in 13 overs, slipping to 60/5.
Holder scored a 29-ball 47 not out but it was not enough in the end. Leggie Ravi Bishnoi picked up 3/24, while pacer Mohammed Shami claimed 2/14 for Kings.
Earlier, Kings batsmen struggled to get going on a slow wicket and failed to stitch any big partnership, the highest being the 30-run stand between Chris Gayle and Aiden Markram, who top-scored with a 32-ball 27, for the third wicket.
Captain K L Rahul had scored 49 in the previous match but got dismissed early this time as he fell to Holder's first ball for a run-a-ball 21 in the fifth over.
The other opener Mayank Agarwal (5), who had scored 67 against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, was out four balls later as he sliced a Holder delivery to Kane Williamson at mid off.
Punjab Kings were 29/2 after Power Play and could have been three wickets down the next over but David Warner dropped Markram off Khaleel Ahmed.
Chris Gayle shunned playing his trademark big-hitting shots but got dimissed for 14 off 17 balls off the bowling of Rashid Khan.
Nicholas Pooran (8) followed his senior West Indian teammate to the dressing room the next over, while Markram's promising innings ended in the 15th over while looking for big shots to accelerate the innings.
Deepak Hooda (13) hit some lusty blows before substitute fielder J Suchith plucked the ball out of thin air in an outstanding fielding effort to dismiss the batsman.
Punjab Kings took 14 runs from the final over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Harpreet Brar remained not out on 18 from as many balls.
