It wasn’t just his batting partnership that was key. Nitish, who bowls medium pace in the mid-130s, dismissed Jitesh Sharma in the 16th over with Punjab Kings looking for a late charge.

“He was great,” Cummins said. “Straight up to the top of the order (in that game), was fantastic in the field, bowled three overs too, got us to 180 with his bat, it was amazing.”

Nitish is apparently a man of few words, but seemed happy to be able to contribute. It is likely that he only got the chance because Sunrisers decided that Abhishek Sharma’s form was too good for them to bat at No.3. With Mayank Agarwal ill, Abhishek set the tempo in his chase with a 12-ball 37 against CSK. 166, which they comfortably achieved with 11 balls to spare.

This performance prompted the team management to replace Abhishek with Travis Head at the top, paving the way for Nitish to retain his place even though Agarwal was declared fit for the match. Nitish repaid that faith with a wall to wall in which he hit four fours and five sixes.

“For me, this is a big part for my team and myself,” Nitish said at the presentation. “I am talking to myself that I have to believe in myself and I have to be there (for the team). The seamers were bowling well, so I didn’t want to take them. When the spinners came I wanted to attack them and that’s what I did.”

Cummins highlighted the Sunrisers’ approach when he summed up their hard-fought win. He said that it was a great game of cricket. “They bowled really well early on, we did well to get to 182 and then defend it. The beauty of an impressive player is that you feel like you have really deep batting. We try to stay positive to move the game forward.

“If you get 150-160, you’re going to lose nine out of ten matches anyway. We knew the new ball was going to be crucial. We were very happy (with our score). We saw that the new ball was going to be crucial. What happened with the ball for them, thought it would be good if me and Bhuvneshwar Kumar could start with the wicket. We have a lot of left-handers and right-handers, so only the bowlers can succeed. Tried to give the best chance.”

As the last ball was hit for a six, the Kings couldn’t help but look back at the six as they hit a six off the last ball when Harshal Patel missed a chance on the long-on boundary.

Dhawan said, “Shashank and Ashutosh played a great innings, I think we took them to a good total. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take advantage of the first six overs and that’s why we lost the game.” “It gave us a shock,” he said. The wicket was not giving that much bounce so everyone has to come up with a better plan.

“We could have stopped 10-15 more runs and that would have made a difference. As a batting unit, we didn’t perform. Top-order has to perform. Shashank and Ashutosh’s performances give us confidence and hope. We have to improve and improve in some areas.”