Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) snatched a win from the jaws of defeat against table-toppers Rajasthan Royals. In a last-ball thriller, Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped SRH win by just one run at home to register their sixth win of the tournament and enter top four. RR stayed at the top of the points table after suffering their second defeat of the season.
Head's steady start
Earlier, Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bat first. Travis Head got an early reprieve as Riyan Parag dropped his catch off the first ball bowled by Trent Boult. Abhishek Sharma hit the first six of the innings in the second over. Avesh Khan was introduced in the attack in the fifth over and he got rid of Abhishek with a slower ball. He scored 12 runs from 10 balls. Sandeep Sharma got a wicket with the first ball of his spell. Anmolpreet Singh got out for a single-digit score. SRH were 37/2 after powerplay overs. As Nitish Reddy took his time, Head broke the shackles with a couple of sixes and a four. Reddy hit the first six of his innings in the 10th over off Ravichandran Ashwin.
Reddy, Klaasen help SRH score big
Avesh came back into the attack and was hit for a maximum by Reddy. Head reached his fifty from 38 balls. Chahal was targetted by Reddy in the 13th over as he hit two sixes and two fours. In the 15th over, Head got bowled by Avesh. The opener's 44-ball 58 was laced with six fours and three sixes. Reddy completed his half-century from 30 balls. In Ashwin's next over, Reddy hit two consecutive sixes. Heinrich Klaasen went after Chahal and hit him for two sixes. Reddy hit a four and a six in Avesh's last over. In the penultimate over, Klaasen hit Boult for two fours. In the final over, Klaasen hit Sandeep for a four and a six. His 19-ball 42 helped SRH posted 201/3. Reddy remained unbeaten for 76 off 42 balls including three fours and eight sixes.
Bhuvneshwar's drop blow, dropped catches
RR's run chase got off to the worst possible start. Bhuvneshwar got rid of in-form Jos Buttler for a golden duck. Then Bhuvneshwar got rid of Samson with a big inswinger. Parag hit Bhuvneshwar for two fours and a six in the next over. Jaiswal was dropped early by Cummins off Marco Jansen's bowling. Jaiswal took on Cummins and hit him for two fours and a six. In the sixth over, Parag's catch was dropped by Abhishek. He was batting on 24 then. RR were 60/2 after powerplay overs. The young RR batters continued to hit boundaries. At the halfway stage, they were 100/2.
After Jaiswal, Parag's fifties, RR lose nail-biter
In the 11th over, Jaiswal and Parag reached their respective half-centuries. The third-wicket partnership was broken by Natarajan. Jaiswal got bowled in an attempt to play a scoop shot. His 40-ball 67 was laced with seven fours and a couple of sixes. Parag accelerated after Jaiswal's wicket and hit a couple of sixes. Cummins came back into the wicket and dismissed Parag. He scored 77 runs from 49 balls including eight fours and four sixes. Rovman Powell and Shimron Hetmyer were expected to provide finishing touches. Hetmyer departed after hitting Natarajan for a six in the 18th over. Dhruv Jurel failed to finish the game and lost his wicket to Cummins. After three dot balls, Powell finished the penultimate over with a six. RR needed 13 runs off the final over. After Ashwin took a single, Powell scored 10 runs off the next four balls. Two runs were needed off the final ball but Powell missed the line and got out lbw and RR suffered their second loss of the tournament.
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