Having restricted the Sunrisers Hyderabad to 132, not many would have bet against Kings XI Punjab's dangerous batting line-up as far as chasing down the total was concerned, in Thursday's IPL game in Hyderabad.
Even though the pitch was not that great for batting, Punjab were sitting pretty after the dangerous in-form duo of K L Rahul and Chris Gayle gave the visitors the perfect start, raking up 44 for no loss in 6 overs.
But the introduction of spin wizard Rashid Khan turned the match on its head.
Sunrisers's Afghan leg-spinner beat Rahul with his very first delivery before Gayle survived an lbw shout two balls later.
It didn't take long for Rashid to strike, and he claimed Rahul in the same over.
The Punjab opener, who scored 32 from 26 balls, played down the wrong line expecting the googly, but the ball went straight on and crashed into the off-stump.
That wicket, in the 8th over, proved the key moment, as Sunrisers kept losing wickets at regular intervals thereafter.
Gayle perished in the next over, to pacer Basil Thampi, and there was no stopping the Sunrisers bowlers who repeated their heroics with the ball against the Mumbai Indians a few days earlier.
