Shashank first hit three boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar when the equation was 67 off the final four. Ashutosh powered a couple of boundaries off Cummins next to keep Punjab in the chase. Only 10 came off the penultimate over bowled by T Natarajan despite two boundaries, and that paved the way for some crucial runs in the bag for Unadkat to defendand taking SRH home after a see-saw game that saw fortunes change hands right through.

At the start of the match, Punjab had a decent start after winning the toss. In what was his best outing so far in IPL 2024, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh had an opening spell to remember as he prised out both Travis Head and Aiden Markram in the space of three balls. Head could have been dismissed off the first ball of the innings but Punjab Kings failed to review an outside edge.

It allowed Head to then cut loose with three consecutive boundaries off Rabada in his next over. But Arshdeep culled the blows by having Head miscuing a big hit that was taken well by Shikhar Dhawan who had to pedal back and across from mid off. With some movement on offer still, Arshdeep then angled one across Markram who nicked behind giving Arshdeep figures of 2-8 in his first spell.

Despite Arshdeep’s early strikes, SRH kept going hard with Abhishek Sharma embodying that effort. He struck Sam Curran for a four an a six but in an attempt to keep it going, he gave the bowler the charge but only to hit to cover point where Shashank took a good low catch. At 39/3 in five overs, SRH opted to bolsted their batting by subbing out Head for Rahul Tripathi. However, on a pitch that had some assistance for the pacers still Tripathi struggled to get going initially against Harshal Patel who eventually picked him up. Curran pushed for a review against Tripathi’s attempted upper-cut and was proved right as the batter was found to have nicked behind giving Harshal a wicket in the process. For SRH, things took a turn for the worse when Heinrich Klaasen mistimed a loft off Harshal and holed out to long off.

Just when the innings seemed to be going nowhere at 100/5, SRH found two youngsters answering their distress call. 20-year-old Nitish Reddy had been thrust in early at No. 4. With wickets falling consistently, Reddy’s first 18 balls fetched only 14 runs. But with counterattack as the fallback option, he along with Abdul Samad proceeded to take apart PBKS in the middle overs. Reddy’s last 19 balls saw him hit three fours and five sixes as he raced away to a well-earned fifty, with a pull off Rabada being a standout shot before he laid into Harpreet Brar in his final over to hit him for 22 runs. Samad, at the other end, picked up four boundaries in total off Harshal Patel and played his part in a 50-run stand that came off just 20 balls.

The final four overs saw SRH lose three crucial wickets but also manage 32 runs with Shabaz Ahmed and Jaydev Unadkat managing crucial boundaries. Inbetween, Arshdeep finished off as he started with a double-wicket over that saw him get both the set batters. The eventual target of 183 ended up as a competitive one even as dew began to settle in.

Punjab Kings ended up with the lowest powerplay total of the season with just 27 coming in the first six overs. Skipper Pat Cummins set the tone by getting Jonny Bairstow bowled for a duck in his first over. Bhuvneshwar Kumar complemented that with two strikes – first getting Prabhsimran Singh to miscue a big hit and then having Shikhar Dhawan stumped thanks to Heinrich Klaasen’s sharp glovework. At 20/3, the chase appeared to have derailed early but Punjab Kings managed to keep hitting back.

Punjab’s riposte to the early breaks came in the form of more bluster from the middle order. First Sam Curran hit a couple of fours and as many sixes before he fell for 29 with Cummins taking a good overhead catch. But Sikandar Raza continued the good work matching Curran’s boundary-count in his 22-ball 28 while Jitesh Sharma scored a quick 19. But both Raza and Jitesh fell in quick succession, leaving Punjab Kings with an uphill task of chasing 69 in 27 balls, which was turned into a nail-biter by the brilliance of Ashutosh and Shashank.

Brief Scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 182/9 in 20 overs (Nitish Reddy 64; Arshdeep Singh 4-29) beat Punjab Kings in 20 overs 180/6 (Shashank Singh 46*, Ashutosh Sharma 33*) by 2 runs