Nitish Reddy’s 64 from 37 balls held a stuttering Sunrisers Hyderabad innings together and was ultimately just enough to help them to thrilling two-run victory against the Punjab Kings in their IPL match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
The visitors, SRH, posted a total of 182-9 after being asked to bat first and the hosts slumped to 58-4 and 114-6 before rallying to 180-6 but with nine runs required from the final ball, which was hit for six by Ashutosh Sharma (33* from 15 balls) it was no more than a consolation.
Nonetheless, it was an extraordinary effort by Punjab who needed 39 runs from the final two overs. Shashank Singh also finished unbeaten on 46 from just 25 balls with six fours and a six.
Drops. Wides. Sixes. 😲
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 9, 2024
What an eventful final over. And what a finish! 😍@SunRisers survive Shashank-Ashutosh blitz to win a nail-biter against @PunjabKingsIPL 👏👏
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/JP3mpkElqZ #TATAIPL | #PBKSvSRH pic.twitter.com/ipJCcfADNA
Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the Punjab attack with a fine 4-29 which gave his team an excellent chance of victory after choosing to bowl first but his skills went unrewarded.
Reddy was fearless despite a scoreboard reading 27-2 when he came to the crease slamming four fours and five sixes and he continued his aggressive tactics even when another two wickets fell leaving the visitors on 64-4.
Superb knock, Amazing catch, Crucial bowling! 👌 👌
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 9, 2024
Nitish Kumar Reddy made his presence felt today and wins the Player of the Match Award 👏 👏
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/JP3mpkETgx #TATAIPL | #PBKSvSRH | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/QBpsw9vM69
CANNY ARSHDEEP
Arshdeep claimed two wickets in three balls with opener Travis Head miscuing a drive to mid on and Aiden Markram (0) edging his second delivery to ‘keeper Jitesh Sharma.
Opener Abhishek Sharma (16) was brilliantly caught low down at cover off Sam Curran and Curran was the fielder at long off which saw Heinrich Klaasen (9) depart to the bowling of seamer Harshal Patel (2-30).
The canny Arshdeep’s first two overs in the Power Play brought him 2-8 and he added two more in his third over when Abdul Samad (25 off 12 balls) and Reddy were caught at third man and long off respectively.
Kagiso Rabada clean bowled Pat Cummins but was unlucky and bowled even better than fine figures of 1-32 would suggest while left- arm spinner Harpreet Brar (4-0-48-0) conceded 22 off his last over in an otherwise disciplined and incisive bowling performance from the home side.
The teams had made identical starts to the tournament with two wins and two losses from their four matches so far but the Sunrisers now move into the top four on the 10-team log while Punjab remain in sixth place.
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wkt), Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan