Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma’s heroics went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat Punjab Kings by two runs to register their third win in IPL 2024. Set a target of 183, PBKS finished their innings on 180/6.
PBKS’ chase was off to a disastrous start as they lost their top three batters inside the powerplay. Pat Cummins clean bowled Jonny Bairstow for a duck in the very first over before Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Prabhsimran Singh for 4 in the third over. In the fifth over, Bhuvneshwar had Shikhar Dhawan stumped for 14 to leave PBKS reeling at 20 for 3.
Sam Curran and Sikandar Raza shared a 38-run stand for the fourth wicket. T Natarajan broke the stand by dismissing Curran for 29. Just like Curran, Raza (28) and Jitesh Sharma (18) got starts as well but they did not last long. Sharma’s dismissal in the 16th over saw PBKS getting reduced to 114 for 6.
And just when it looked like the game was all but over for PBKS, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma revived their team’s hopes again. They brought down the equation to 29 runs from the last over. Ashutosh hit Jaydev Unadkat for two sixes and the left-arm pacer bowled two wides as well as the equation was reduced to 15 from the last four balls.
However, Unadkat held his nerve and defended the runs even though he conceded one more six. Ashutosh remained unbeaten on 33 off 15 while Shashank scored 46 off 25.
PBKS vs SRH: SRH innings
Earlier in the game, SRH recovered from a poor start to finish on a competitive total of 182/9 in the allotted 20 overs. Nitish Reddy starred with the bat for SRH, smashing 64 runs off just 37 balls to lead his team’s recovery.
After PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and opted to bowl first, his decision was proved right by his pacers. In the fourth over, Arshdeep Singh dismissed Travis Head for 21 and Aiden Markram for a duck to reduce SRH to 27 for 2.
In the very following over, Sam Curran joined the party as well to dismiss Abhishek Sharma for 16 to leave the visitors reeling at 39 for 3. The likes of Rahul Tripathi (11) and Heinrich Klaasen (9) could not do much with the bat either as SRH lost five wickets for just 100 runs in the 14th over.
However, Reddy and Abdul Samad shared a quickfire stand of 50 runs to give the innings some much-needed impetus. In the 15th over, Reddy completed his fifty with a six and hit Harpreet Brar for 22 runs to break the shackles.
In the 16th over, Samad hit two fours before Arshdeep dismissed both of them in the 17th over. Towards the end, Shahbaz Ahmed and Jaydev Unadkat helped SRH cross the 180-run mark.
PBKS vs SRH scorecard:
