Sunrisers Hyderabad secured a thrilling win against Punjab Kings by 2 runs. SRH, playing first after losing the toss, scored 182 runs in 20 overs. While chasing the target, the Punjab Kings did not get off to a good start as the team lost the wickets of all three top-order batsmen within 20 runs. However, although Sam Curran and Sikandar Raza tried to make Punjab’s comeback by playing innings of 29 and 28 runs respectively, they proved unsuccessful. On behalf of SRH, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and captain Pat Cummins especially bowled powerfully and put the Punjab batsmen under pressure. Punjab hero Shashank Singh played an innings of 46 runs against Gujarat Titans while Ashutosh Sharma also caused a stir in the final overs but despite his hard work, Punjab lost by 2 runs.
Punjab continuously lost wickets forcing the team to score 78 runs in the last 5 overs. Under pressure to score more runs, Jitesh Sharma lost his wicket on the very next ball after hitting a six in the 16th over, thereby scoring 19 runs in 11 balls. The Punjab batsmen definitely scored 28 runs in the next two overs but they still needed 50 runs in 18 balls. The pair of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma once again geared up to turn the game around but it was a tough challenge for them to score 29 runs in the last six balls.
Nitish missed the catch on the first ball of the last over and the ball went outside the boundary line. After bowling two long balls, Jaydev Undkat hit another six. Punjab needed just 13 runs in the last 3 balls. When it came to the last ball, Punjab needed 9 runs. Shashank Singh hit a six off the last ball but Punjab suffered a narrow defeat by 2 runs. Jaydev Unadkat had given away 26 runs in that last over of the innings.
The Shashank-Ashutosh pair made the match exciting again
In the game against Gujarat Titans, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh both fought brilliantly in the last overs and won the losing game for Punjab Kings. This time too, their pair had taken Punjab close to victory in the final overs. On the one hand, Shashank Singh scored 46 runs in 25 balls and Ashutosh scored 33 runs in 15 balls but could not ensure victory for Punjab. Talking about SRH’s bowling, Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up two important wickets. While Pat Cummins, T Natarajan, Nitish Reddy and Jaydev Unadkat took one wicket each.