Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Punjab Kings by two runs in the 23rd IPL match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh on Tuesday.
Asked to bat, Hyderabad posted 182 for nine. In reply, Punjab lost early wickets but managed to take the game to the last over to post 180 for six.
Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma again got Hyderabad off to a flying start. But then things changed drastically for the visitors as they suffered a terrible collapse.
They were reduced to 100 for five and under immense pressure. But it was then that Nitish Kumar Reddy (64: 37b, 4x4, 5x6) came to the rescue with a brilliant half-century. Abdul Samad (25-12b, 5x4) supported him as the duo put on 50 runs for the second wicket.
Their efforts helped Hyderabad post a total of 182. For Punjab, Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers with figures of four for 29.
Punjab got off to the worst possible start with the bat, losing three quick wickets to be reduced to 20 for three. Sam Curran (29 not out 22b, 2x4, 2x6) and Sikander Raza (28 not out 22b, 2x4, 2x6) played useful knocks for the team but their wickets put Punjab under pressure.
Shashank Singh (46 not out: 25b, 6x4, 1x6) and Ashutosh Sharma (33 not out: 15b, 3x4, 2x6) tried their best and took the team close but fell just two runs short of the target.
Stats
Sunrisers Hyderabad Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Travis Head - 3.2 ov), 2-27 (Aiden Markram - 3.4 ov), 3-39 (Abhishek Sharma - 4.6 ov), 4-64 (Rahul Tripathi - 9.4 ov), 5-100 (Heinrich Klaasen - 13.1 ov), 6-150 (Abdul Samad - 16.3 ov), 7-151 (Nitish Kumar Reddy - 16.5 ov), 8-155 (Pat Cummins - 17.3 ov), 9-176 (Bhuvneshwar Kumar - 19.5 ov)
Punjab Kings Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Jonny Bairstow - 1.4 ov), 2-11 (Prabhsimran Singh - 2.6 ov), 3-20 (Shikhar Dhawan - 4.4 ov), 4-58 (Sam Curran - 9.1 ov), 5-91 (Sikandar Raza - 13.1 ov), 6-114 (Jitesh Sharma - 15.3 ov)