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Sunrisers Hyderabad 182 for 9 (Reddy 64, Samad 25, Arshad 4-29, Harshal 2-30) Punjab Kings 180 for 6 (Shashank 46*, Ashutosh 33*, Bhuvneshwar 2-32) by two runs

Sunrisers Hyderabad dropped Ashutosh Sharma’s three catches in the last over with Punjab Kings needing 29 runs. Two of them hit sixes and almost turned the tide of the match. But when the third out came, there was only one delivery left and the Kings needed nine. Shashank Singh sent the final ball to the long-off boundary, but the Kings fell short by just two runs chasing 183 to give Sunrisers their third win of the season.
It was Jaydev Anadakt who bowled the last over in which 26 runs were scored. As luck would have it, it was Unaddict who was dropped by Harshal Patel on the last ball of Sunrisers’ innings and the ball came over the rope for a six. Fine margin.
What a dream it would have been if Shashank and Ashutosh pulled off another heist like they did against the Gujarat Titans five days ago. But eventually, they were left with too many men in the last over of the chase.

Shashank, Ashutosh again

He joined forces when the Kings were 114 for 6 in the 16th over. The required rate at that time was 15.33 which soon rose to 16.75 with 24 balls to spare. Each of these four overs was bowled by a different bowler, and each of them was taken to the cleaners.

In the 17th, Shashank faced Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He got a streaky outside edge for four on the third first ball of the over. The next ball was drilled over wide long off, and the fifth ball was slashed to deep extra cover.

Ashutosh then kept the Kings in the hunt, stumping Pat Cummins for back-to-back fours in the 18th over. The odds still lay with SRH, with the Kings needing 39 runs from the last two overs. T Natajran was taken for ten, a perfect over in the context of things, leaving Anadict with 28 to defend in the 20th over.

Anadict’s last over started with a six, two wides and another six. Fourteen runs were scored in two balls. But he came back with just six runs off his next three balls. Shashank hits a six off the last ball, but the Kings narrowly miss out on getting over the line.

Nitish Kumar Reddy would have had his heart in his mouth during the carnage in the last over. He finally had Ashutosh caught on the first ball of the last over. But it was Reddy’s knock of 64 off 37 balls that saved SRH from 64 for 4 in the tenth over and took them to 182.

After Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Henrik Klaasen and Aiden Markram fell cheaply, it was up to Reddy to repair. On 14 off 18 balls at one stage, he hit Harpreet Brar for a four and a six in the 11th over. Kagiso Rabada was hooked over long leg for a six, and Sam Curran was smashed over deep square. But Reddy really turned the tables in the 15th over, when he submitted Brar for 4, 6, 4, 6 in consecutive balls.

Arshad makes things right.

Coming into the game Arsdeep Singh has taken four wickets in as many games in IPL 2024. Against SRH, he took 4 for 29, doubling his season tally. The first of these came when, on the second ball of the third over, Dhawan did a 180-degree turn and back-pedaled through mid-off to catch the head. Two balls later, Arsdeep angled across Markram, forcing it past the wicketkeeper. Arsdeep’s figures from his first spell were 2-0-8-2, and as a result, SRH had their worst powerplay of the season, being restricted to 40 for 3.

Before Tuesday night, Arshad had just one wicket in 20 balls in the death overs this season. Its economy rate was 11.70. But against SRH, he was brought back for the death overs, where he took two off four balls.

Reddy and Abdul Samad had added 50 in just 19 balls when Arshad went full and wide to Samad on the third ball of the 17th over, who got deep point. The pacer then removed Reddy, who only managed to take a low full toss to long-on. Shahbaz Ahmed took 15 in the 19th over of the innings to spoil Arsdeep’s tally somewhat, but despite ending up on the losing side, it was a great day for the fast bowlers.



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