Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) prevailed in a thrilling encounter against the Rajasthan Royals by just one run in the 2024 edition of the IPL as Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept his calm to dismiss Rovman Powell on the final ball of the match when the visitors required two runs to win on Thursday, May 2 in Hyderabad. Bhuvneshwar started SRH's bowling innings with twin strikes dismissing both Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson in the same over to peg the Royals early and capped it off with a winner on the final ball to help his side earn two crucial points.
At 157/3 after 15 overs, the Royals would have backed themselves to chase down the target with batters like Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell and Dhruv Jurel remaining in the tank. Yes, losing both the set batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag in quick succession wasn't ideal for the Men in Pink, however, chasing 45 runs in the last five overs, the table-toppers would have backed themselves to chase the total down.
Some brilliant bowling from skipper Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar coupled with a bit of harakiri from the RR batters meant that the home side got across the finishing line after two back-to-back losses.
Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal with a 134-run stand had almost brought the Royals on the winning track after they were two down in the first over itself. Both smashed fifties and just when it seemed that they would take their side through to a win, they both got out in quick succession with T Natarajan and Pat Cummins accounting for both.
Cummins' three-run over with Parag's wicket began the comeback for the Orange Army before he bowled a 7-run 19th over and Bhuvneshwar Kumar despite getting hit for a boundary, didn't let Powell let loose and eventually won the game for his side. Sunrisers are now on level with Lucknow Super Giants with six wins and four losses in 10 matches.
Earlier, it was Nitish Kumar Reddy who continued to impress with his hitting and intent after SRH were in a spot of bother. It was a fresh wicket at Uppal and the ball turned and gripped as the Royals got two wickets in the powerplay before Travis Head and Nitish Reddy began the repair work. They were 48 in eight overs before both of them went berserk and were helped by Heinrich Klaasen's 42* off 19 to lift them to 201, which eventually proved to be enough, just.
This was Royals' second loss in the tournament and they still await a Q next to their name, despite having won eight matches.
