Young Nitish Kumar Reddy's all-round performance helped Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by just two runs and register their third win of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. SRH bowlers varied their pace and did not let hosts Punjab Kings (PBKS) take the game away from them in the middle overs but Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh kept them on the edge with their big-hitting. This is Pat Cummins-led SRH’s first away win of the season.
SRH top-order fails
Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and opted to bowl first. On the first ball, Kagiso Rabada managed to get an outside edge off Travis Head's bat but Cummins did not opt for DRS. In Rabada's next over, Head hit three consecutive fours. Arshdeep Singh got the breakthrough for PBKS. Head departed for a 15-ball 21. In the same over, he dismissed Aiden Markram for a two-ball duck. Abhishek Sharma hit Sam Curran for a six and a four but lost his wicket on the last ball of the fifth over. The opener scored 16 runs from 11 balls. After powerplay overs, SRH were 40/3.
Reddy’s maiden fifty helps SRH post fighting total
Impact player Rahul Tripathi and Reddy struggled in the middle overs. Harshal Patel ended Tripathi's stay at the crease with a slower bouncer. The impact player scored 11 runs from 14 balls. Reddy broke free in the 11th over. He smashed Harpreet Brar for a four and a six. Reddy continued to clear the boundaries. But Heinrich Klaasen could not come to his team’s rescue. Klaasen contributed just nine runs. Abdul Samad hit boundaries to help SRH gain momentum. Meanwhile, Reddy reached his maide IPL fifty with a six from 32 balls. He was dropped by Shashank Singh too. In Brar's fourth over, he hit two fours and two sixes.
In the 17th over, Samad's cameo came to an end. Arshdeep broke the partnership. Samad scored 25 runs from 12 balls. In the same over, Arshdeep got rid of Reddy as well. He miscued a shot to Rabada at long-off. The young batter scored 64 runs from 37 balls including four fours and five sixes. Rabada in his last over got through Cummins. In the penultimate over, Shahbaz Ahmed smashed Arshdeep for a four and a six. In the final over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar departed for a single-digit score. Jaydev Unadkat finished the innings with a six as the ball bounced off Harshal’s palms at long-on and over the fence. SRH posted 182/9.
Low-scoring powerplay
Bhuvneshwar started with a tight over conceding just a single. Cummins got the better of Jonny Bairstow as he went for a big shot and got bowled. The Englishman departed for a three-ball duck. In his next over, Bhuvneshwar was hit for a four each by Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh. He finished the over with Prabhismran's wicket. In Bhuvneshwar's third over, Dhawan edged one to first slip but his catch was dropped. But Samad's dropped catch did not turn out to be expensive. Dhawan was stumped as he went down the track. The skipper scored 14 runs from 16 balls. After the powerplay overs, SRH were 27 for three wickets.
Shashank keeps PBKS in the chase
Reddy was expensive in his first over conceding three boundaries. Curran smashed the first six of the innings off Unadkat's first ball. He took on Reddy as well. In the 10th over, Natarajan came back into the attack. Cummins timed his jump to perfection to take the catch. Curran scored 29 runs from 22 balls. Sikandar Raza hit a couple of sixes but he could not take the run chase forward. Unadkat ended his knock with a slower one. He scored 28 runs from 22 balls. Jitesh Sharma was dropped for a single-digit score by Natarajan. He hit a six off Reddy but couldn't continue. On the next ball, he departed for an 11-ball 19.
Ashutosh’s blitz not enough
Bhuvneshwar's last over turned out to be expensive. Shashank hit him for three fours in the 17-run over. Ashutosh took on Cummins in the 18th over hitting him for two fours. In the penultimate over, Natarajan conceded two boundaries and left 29 runs for Unadkat to defend. Ashutosh was lucky in the final over. Two of his shots bounced off Samad's palms and went over the ropes. He ran hard between the wickets to get back on strike. Unadkat held his nerves to keep Ashutosh at bay with the penultimate delivery. With nine runs needed off last ball, Ashutosh smashed a six but PBKS lost the match by two runs. He remained unbeaten for 15-ball 33. On the other end, Shashank scored 46 runs from 25 balls including six fours and a six.
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