Heinrich Klaassen. (Source -IPL/BCCI)
Sunrisers Hyderabad hosted the Punjab Kings in the 69th game of the Indian Premier League season at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The hosts had already qualified for the play-offs but were hoping for a place in the top two which required a win today along with another result going in their favour.
Punjab Kings won the toss and opted to bat first as they hoped to set a massive total on the scoreboard. They had a great start as they had a 97-run partnership which gave them the right foundation. Contributions from Rilee Rossouw and Jitesh Sharma in the second half of the innings to propel the team to a great total of 214 runs after their 20 overs.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad – 84/2 after 6 overs – First Strategic Time Out
However, it was the worst possible start for the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the start of the second innings. They lost Travis Head on the first ball of the innings as Arshdeep Singh bowled a beautiful delivery which hit the stumps straight. Rahul Tripathi came to the crease and had a decent partnership with Abhishek Sharma.
They were getting the boundaries that were required and were racing away with ease. Their 72-run stand of just 29 deliveries came to an end after Harshal Patel ended his poor first over with the wicket of Tripathi. At the end of the powerplay, Sunrisers Hyderabad looked in control as they had lost only two wickets but they had put on 84 runs on the scoreboard.
Sunrisers Hyderabad – 182/4 after 15 overs – Second Strategic Time Out
K Nitish Reddy came to the crease to support the in-form batter Abhishek Sharma and take the innings forward. The opener was able to complete the runs flowing as he completed his fifty inside just 21 deliveries. The duo were able to pile on the runs at a great run rate as the opener looked for more boundaries.
With some rain around the hosts were looking to accelerate but in the 10th over, Shashank Singh got the prized wicket of Abhishek Sharma on the first ball of his spell. Heinrich Klaasen came to support Reddy and was aggressive from the start as he was smacking boundaries at will.
Harshal Patel came back into the attack and got the wicket of Nitish Reddy but by that time the hosts required just more than run-a-ball to chase down the total. In the next over, Patel dropped a sitter off the bowling of Arshdeep Singh and Shahbaz Ahmed got a reprieve.
Sunrisers Hyderabad – 215/6 after 19.1 overs
The hosts knew that the game was in their hands and were looking to chase down the total without losing any more wickets. Shahbaz and Klaasen had a decent 21-run partnership but the latter shelled the ball straight to the fielder when just 18 runs were required. Klaasen also gave his wicket away cheaply to Harpreet Brar but the game was done by that time. Abdul Samad and Sanvir Singh combined to score the last few runs and sealed the game with ease.