Mullanpur; News Agency: Even though Hyderabad won by 2 runs in the last match between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, it was Punjab's pair of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma who won the hearts of the audience. Both had almost completed the target of 69 runs in 4 overs. However, his effort fell short by two runs. Sunrisers Hyderabad team scored 182 for 9, while Punjab's train stopped at 180. Shashank (46 runs off 25 balls) and Ashutosh (33 runs off 15 balls) remained unbeaten. (PBKS vs SRH)
Chasing the challenge of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab got off to a poor start. Their top three batsmen Jonny Bairstow (0), Prabhasimran Singh (4) and Shikhar Dhawan (14) returned to the tent for 20 runs. After the initial shocks, Sam Curran led the Punjab Kings innings. Karan tried to put pressure on the Hyderabad bowlers by playing consecutive strokes. He took Sikandar Raza with him and started collecting runs; But this struggle of Kuren was ended by Natarajan. He scored 29 runs off 22 balls. Raza was dismissed by Unadkat (28). Nitish Kumar Reddy also contributed to the bowling by dismissing wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma (19).
This was followed by the responsibility of the last match match-winner pair of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma; But this time the target was big, they had to score 69 runs in 24 balls. Both recovered 17 runs from Bhubaneswar in the 17th over. Cummins conceded 11 runs in the next over. With Natarajan conceding 10 runs, the onus fell on Jaydev Unadkat to defend 29 runs in the last over. (PBKS vs SRH)
Jaidev's first ball hits a six. The ball falls through the hands of Nitish Kumar on the boundary and beyond the rope. This put Unadkat under pressure, he bowled two wides in quick succession. Then the next ball came again for a six. So 14 runs were scored in two balls. That made the winning target as easy as 15 runs in 4 balls. This was followed by four runs in two balls; But the fifth ball fell wide. That left a target of 10 runs in 2 balls. On the fifth ball, when a four or a six was expected, a run came and Punjab's defeat was certain. Shashank Singh hits a six on the last ball. But, they remained 2 runs short of the target. But the fight given by Shashank and Ashutosh won the hearts of the fans.
Earlier, Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first. Kagiso Rabada's very first delivery had a strong catch appeal for Travis Head; But not taking DRS saved Head's life. Head then hit Rabada for 3 consecutive fours in the next over. Punjab Kings got a big wicket in Arshdeep Singh's first over. A big shot by Head (21) flew high and Dhawan, standing at mid-off, took a good catch on the run. Arshdeep dismissed Markram (0) in the space of one ball to give Hyderabad two shocks for 27 runs. Abhishek Sharma (16) looked in good touch. But, Sam Curran sent him back.
After the top order failed, Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Kumar Reddy showed a glimmer of hope; But Harshal Patel broke the pair. Rahul was caught for 11 runs, this time Jitesh Sharma took 'DRS' and it was successful. Henrik Klaassen (9) also failed and Harshal Patel took this wicket; But Nitish stood his ground and completed his half-century in 32 balls. Nitish was dismissed after scoring 64 runs off 37 balls. Hyderabad managed to score 182 for 9.
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