Sunrisers Hyderabad 182 for 9 (Reddy 64, Samad 25, Arshdeep 4-29, Harshal 2-30) beat Punjab Kings 180 for 6 (Shashank 46*, Ashutosh 33*, Bhuvneshwar 2-32) by two runs
Sunrisers Hyderabad dropped three catches of Ashutosh Sharma in the final over off which Punjab Kings needed 29 runs. Two of them went over the ropes for sixes and nearly turned the match. But when the third went down, only one delivery remained and Kings needed nine. Shashank Singh sent the last ball miles over the long-off boundary, but Kings fell short by just two runs in their chase of 183 to give Sunrisers their third win of the season.
It was Jaydev Unadkat who bowled that last over which went for 26. As fate would have it, it was Unadkat who Harshal Patel had dropped on the final ball of Sunrisers’ innings and the ball had popped up over the rope for six. Fine margins.
What a dream it would have been had Shashank and Ashutosh pulled off another heist like they did five days back against Gujarat Titans. But eventually, they were left with too many to get in the final over of the chase.
Shashank, Ashutosh at it again
They joined forces when Kings were 114 for 6 halfway into the 16th over. The required rate at the time was 15.33 which soon shot up to 16.75 with 24 balls remaining. Different bowlers bowled each of those four overs, and each one of them was taken to the cleaners.
In the 17th, Shashank took on Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He got a streaky outside edge over short third first ball of the over for four. The next ball was drilled to wide long-off, and the fifth one slashed to deep extra cover.
Ashutosh then kept Kings in the hunt, swatting and ramping Pat Cummins for back-to-back fours in the 18th over. The odds still remained with SRH, with Kings requiring 39 in the last two overs. T Natajaran was taken for ten, an excellent over in the context of things, which left Unadkat with 28 to defend in the 20th.
Unadkat’s final over started with a six, two wides and another six. Fourteen runs gone in two balls. But he came back well conceding just six runs in his next three balls. Shashank deposited the last ball for six, but Kings narrowly missed out on getting over the line.
