IPL 2024 Match 23: Sunrisers Hyderabad edge Punjab Kings by just 2 runs in thriller

by CricDirect Staff Tuesday 9 April 2024

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Nitish Kumar Reddy celebrates his half-century

©IANS

Sunrisers Hyderabad edged Punjab Kings by just 2 runs, in a thrilling encounter today, in IPL 2024 Match 23, at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh.

Match Summary

Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Match 23,

Punjab Kings 180/6 (20 ov)

Sunrisers Hyderabad 182/9 (20 ov)

Result - Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 2 runs

SCORECARD

Match Highlights - Reddy helps Hyderabad edge Punjab in IPL thriller

Sunrisers Hyderabad survived a late assault by Punjab Kings batsmen Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma to win by two runs in an IPL thriller on Tuesday.

Nitish Kumar Reddy, a 20-year-old batting all-rounder, pulled Hyderabad out of early trouble to guide them to 182-9 after being invited to bat first at Punjab's new home Mullanpur.

Punjab looked down and out at 114-6 but Shashank (46) and Sharma (33) put on an unbeaten stand of 66 off 27 balls to give Hyderabad a scare as Punjab ended on 180-6.

Hyderabad's Pat Cummins looked a relieved captain after left-arm quick Jaydev Unadkat just about defended 29 runs in the last over, which witnessed three dropped catches in the deep.

Cummins, who was paid $2.5 million by Hyderabad in the auction, praised Reddy for his batting, one wicket and a catch as well.

"He was awesome, fantastic debut last week," Australia's World Cup-winning captain said.

"Straight to the top for the order, fantastic in the field, bowled three overs too. To get us to 180 off his bat, it was amazing."
Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets to play a key part in Hyderabad's third win in five matches to stay fifth, above Punjab in the 10-team table.

But Reddy set up victory with his 37-ball 64 laced with four fours and five sixes as he put on a key 50-run sixth-wicket stand with Abdul Samad, who hit a 12-ball 25.

Punjab quick Arshdeep Singh struck twice in the space of three balls to send back Travis Head, for 21, and Aiden Markram, for a duck, before Reddy took charge.

Reddy rebuilt the innings as he stood firm despite wickets falling around him and mixed the right dose of caution and aggression.

Arshdeep again struck twice in an over as he sent back Samad and Reddy but Shahbaz Ahmed steered the team to a total which eventually proved enough with his unbeaten seven-ball 14.

Sam Curran and Harshal Patel took two wickets each but leaked runs.

Punjab wobbled early in their chase after Cummins took down Jonny Bairstow for a three-ball duck and soon slipped to 58-4 when Curran departed on 29.

Zimbabwe's Sikander Raza hit 28 but it was number six Shashank and number eight Sharma who took on the chase only to finish two short.

"There was always the hope that they could finish the game. Hats off to them that they brought it this close," Punjab skipper Shikhar Dhawan said after their third loss this season.

"Gives us confidence and hope for the next game. We have to do better in certain areas and improve."

Match 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)

Playing XI

Punjab Kings