Mullanpur: Younger Nitish Reddy confirmed super character throughout an important 37-ball 64 as Sunrisers Hyderabad eked out a two-run win over Punjab Kings, surviving a daring try by Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma in a see-sawing IPL match right here on Tuesday.
Despatched in to bat, the 20-year-old Reddy lifted SRH to 182/9 after PBKS had the guests reeling at 66 for 4 within the tenth over.
PBKS have been stopped at 180/6, however they wouldn’t have gone that far had it not been for a whirlwind 66-run partnership between the heroes of their final match, Shashank (46 not out off 25 balls) and Ashutosh (33 not out off 15 balls).
Needing 29 runs within the final over bowled by Jaydev Unadkat, SRH dropped three catches as Shashank and Ashutosh got here inside touching distance of pulling off one other beautiful win.
The Visakhapatnam-born Reddy, who began out as a batter at age group degree earlier than blossoming right into a pace-bowling all-rounder, struck 5 sixes and fours fours throughout his unbeaten knock.
Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh (4/29) was the standout bowler for PBKS, however SRH nonetheless finally completed with a complete that appeared inconceivable at one stage.
Abdul Samad chipped in with a 12-ball 25 earlier than Jaydev Unadkat ended the SRH innings with a final ball six.
In reply, the hosts have been off to a disastrous begin as they misplaced three wickets with solely 20 runs on the board, considered one of them being captain Shikhar Dhawan (14 off 16 balls) who was stumped brilliantly by Heinrich Klaasen regardless of standing as much as seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/32).
The run charge strain obtained to Dhawan after the early dismissals of his opening associate Jonny Bairstow and Prabhsimran Singh.
Bairstow was bowled by SRH skipper Pat Cummins (1/22) for a three-ball duck after he appeared to play throughout the road, whereas Prabhsimran (4) was despatched again by Bhuvneshwar after the batter obtained a vanguard whereas attempting to work the ball on the leg aspect.
Sam Curran was dismissed for a 22-ball 29 by T Natarajan (1/33) due to a shocking catch by Cummins at mid-off.
Earlier, the match obtained underway on an eventful word as Travis Head (21 off 15 balls) would have been out first ball after a transparent edge. However the opener should thank Kagiso Rabada for prolonging his keep within the center because the South African lead pacer, having opened up Head utterly, was unsure if he had certainly induced an edge.
Wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma went up straightaway however Rabada didn’t be part of his colleague loudly sufficient, because the batter obtained a reprieve with PBKS refusing to take a evaluation.
Replays confirmed a transparent edge, and it was unusual on Rabada’s half who was smashed for 3 successive boundaries by Head for a 16-run third over.
Head obtained a thick edge for a 4, obtained the second boundary by means of the off-side, after which performed one on the rise by means of mid-on for his third straight 4 off Rabada.
Regardless of dwelling a charmed life, Head didn’t capitalise, due to PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who ran again and saved his eyes on the ball to finish a superb catch, which was adopted by his trademark thigh-slap celebration.
It was a giant breakthrough for PBKS and their captain was delighted, and so was bowler Arshdeep Singh, who was the beneficiary of Dhawan’s judgement and athleticism.
Two balls later, Aiden Markram was strolling again to the dugout for a duck after edging an away going Arshdeep supply to Jitesh.
Abhishek Sharma, having simply hit Sam Curran for a beautiful six and a 4, fell to the English all-rounder’s subsequent ball after coming down the wicket in the hunt for one other massive one. He mistimed, and Shashank Singh held on to a superb catch to depart SRH in a spot of trouble at 39/3 within the fifth over.
The ability play yielded solely 40 runs for the lack of three wickets as PBKS dominated the guests, forcing SRH to change their plans and ship Rahul Tripathi because the affect sub. Tripathi changed Head.
Tripathi (11 off 14 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (9 in 9 balls) didn’t get going to depart SRH tottering at 100 for 5 to start with of the 14th over.
The onus was then on Reddy to bail the crew out, and the teen did that with aplomb and picked 22 runs of a Harpreet Brar over to carry his aspect, whereas including 50 runs in fast time with Samad.
