Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) prevailed in a thriller against Punjab Kings as the game got too close for their comfort in the end but eventually, the Orange Army sneaked home by just two runs at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Tuesday, April 9. Nitish Kumar Reddy was the star of the show for the Sunrisers with his knock of 64 off just 37 balls as he not only rescued his side's innings when they were reduced to 64/4 but also helped them get to a strong score of 182 runs, which eventually proved to be enough.
As it turned out, even though Jaydev Unadkat went for 26 runs off the last over including three sixes, three catches were dropped and it was the six that the left-arm pacer hit with his bat on the last ball of SRH's innings that eventually proved to be the difference. A catch was dropped by Harshal Patel off Sam Curran's ball as he palmed it over the boundary. SRH's score went from 176 to 182 and the Kings finished with 180 as the top-order needs to pull its weight for the home side.
However, it was a Nitish Kumar Reddy show through and through for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who was promoted to No 4 and did the job with the bat amid a floundering batting performance from the rest of the batters. At 64/4 in the 10th over, the innings was going nowhere for the Sunrisers before Nitish Reddy stitched a quick 20-ball 50 partnership with Abdul Samad to lead his side's comeback.
Reddy notched up his maiden IPL fifty and was on course to take his team to a total in excess of 190-plus but Kings made a decent comeback with three wickets in two overs before a six each from Shahbaz Ahmed and Unadkat pushed SRH's score beyond 180.
The top three of Punjab Kings disappointed again as Jonny Bairstow's treacherous run in the tournament continued and skipper Shikhar Dhawan after a couple of boundaries fell for a second low score in a row again. Prabhsimran Singh's throwing-caution-to-the-wind approach didn't work and Sam Curran and Sikandar Raza were left to put the pieces back together yet again.
Curran hit a few sixes and fours before T Natarajan got him out and Raza kept things afloat but by the time Shashank and Ashutosh joined forces, the required rate had touched 17-18. Both of them tried their best, especially in the last over by hitting three sixes but it was always going to be a bridge too far.
Punjab have their top-order problems and Sunrisers seem to be tapering over their holes with performances with the bat and the ball here and there.
