Picture : IPL / X
Sunrisers Hyderabad held their nerve as they beat Punjab Kings by mere 2 runs in thrilling Tata IPL 2024 encounter at Mullanpur near Mohali .
Punjab Kings Skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and asked Sunrisers Hyderabad to bat first . Punjab bowlers kept the SRH batsmen in check and they did not allow to get off to a flying start. Instead rocked them with early wickets . SRH were at one stage tottering at 39-3, 5 overs. Dangerous opener Travis Head fell for 15 . His fellow opener Abhishek Sharma was tentative and scored mere 16. Aiden Markram had rare failure without scoring. The big-hitting Heinrich Klaasen was out cheaply for 9. Impact player Rahul Tripathi scored 11.
SRH innings was revived thanks to a wonderful batting between Nitish Reddy and Abdul Samad . Nitish Reddy was impressive in his attacking innings of 64 ( 37 balls , 4 fours, 5 sixes). Abdul Samad scored a quick 12 ball 25 . Shahbaz Ahmed was not out 14, Skipper Pat Cummins fell for ( 3) , Bhuvneshwar Kumar ( 6) . Jaydev Unadkat hitting the final ball of the innings from Sam Curran for six. SRH after a slow start finished strongly reaching 182/ 9 in their 20 overs. A target something for their bowlers to bowl at.
Punjab bowling : Kagiso Rabada opening for the first time took 1/ 32 ( 4 overs), Arshdeep Singh was the star with fine figures of 4/ 29 ( 4 overs) , Sam Curran 2/ 41 ( 4 overs), Harshal Patel 2/ 30 ( 4 overs), Harpreet Brar 0/ 48 ( 4 overs).
The onus now was on the Punjab Kings to chase down 183 . But Punjab lost early wicket of Jonny Bairstow without scoring bowled by SRH Skipper Pat Cummins. Soon Bhuvneshwar Kumar joined the party claiming the wickets of Prabhsimran Singh ( 4) and Punjab Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (14) who was stumped brilliantly by Heinrich Klaasen . Punjab innings was in tatters at 20-3, 4.4 overs.
Sam Curran looked dangerous as he scored 29 ( 22 balls , 2 fours , 2 six) before he was brilliantly caught by SRK Skipper Pat Cummins running backwards off T Natarajan. Sikandar Raza threatened to go big but fell to slow delivery from Unadkat for 28 ( 22 balls , 2 fours, 2 sixes) . Jitesh Sharma fell for 19 as the asking rate was climbing .
Punjab hopes rested on the duo of Shashank Singh 46 ( 25 balls , 6 fours, 1 six) and Ashutosh Sharma 33 ( 15 balls 3 fours , 2 sixes) nearly took them home but Punjab fell short by 2 runs . The duo who remained not out put on a fine partnership of 64 run(s) in 27 ball(s). Finishing at 180/ 6 in their 20 overs. SRH Skipper Pat Cummins was spot with his captaincy and bowling changes. And even when Unadkat went for runs in the final over , Cummins looked cool , clam and managed a smile too.
SRH Bowling : Skipper Pat Cummins led from the front yet again with fine figures of 1/ 22 ( 4 overs), Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/ 32 ( 4 overs), T Natarajan 1/ 33 ( 4 overs), Nitish Reddy 1/ 33 ( 3 overs), Jaydev Unadkat 1/ 49 ( 4 overs) last over went for 26 runs. Shahbaz Ahmed 0/ 10 ( 1 over)
Match: IPL 2024, 23rd Match
Venue: Mohali | Date: April 09, 2024
