Despite a valiant fightback from Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, Punjab Kings fell two runs short of a win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League match at the Mullanpur stadium on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.
On a pitch that assisted bowlers, here are the batters who stole the show...
Nitish Kumar Reddy
SRH's total, which in the end proved to be a match-winning one, was all thanks to Reddy who changed the complexion of the game.
SRH were struggling at 27 for 2 in 4 overs when he walked into the middle. He took his time to setle down with Abhishek Sharma (16 off 11) and Rahul Tripathi (11 oiff 14).
He dealt in singles and twos at the start of his innings, but then with Heinrich Klaasen at the other end he gained some courage and smashed Harpreet Brar for a four and a six as he cut and pulled either side of the wicket to clobber the bowler for 15 runs.
Kagiso Rabada was the next bowler to get some stick from the young man as he was launched for a six over long leg,
Reddy continued dealing in boundaries and soon brought up his maiden IPL 50 off just 32 balls and he took a liking to Brar, hammering him for 2 fours and 2 sixes and taking 22 runs off him in the 15th over.
Reddy was soon out for 64 off 37 but he had played his part to perfection.
At the end of the match, he became the youngest player and the first uncapped player to score 50+ runs, take a wicket and bag a catch in an IPL match.
Abdul Samad
Though inconsistent, Samad has a knack of playing a cameo or two each and Tuesday night was one of those nights.
The 22 year old came at the fall of Klaasen's wicket. With just 100 on the board in the 13th over SRH needed some momentum in their favour and Samad did just that.
He wasted no time in scoring and put on a quick 50 run stand off 19 balls with Reddy, before perishing for 25 off 12 balls. This partnership was the reason behind SRH's score being pushed beyond 150 despite difficult circumstances.
Shahbaz Ahmed
Coming in at the back end, he clobbered Arshdeep Singh for a four and a six to take SRH to 182 for 9, a score that was unfathomable a few overs earlier. He remained not out on 14 off 7.
Shashank Singh
It looks like the 32 year old enjoys batting under pressure. Last week he pulled off a coup against the Gujarat Titans and on Tuesday night he nearly did it against SRH.
Much like in the previous match, Shashank came in to bat with the score reading 58 for 4.
He wasted no time and found the boundary off the second ball he faced, guiding the ball over the 'keeper for a four.
He dealt in singles and hit the occasional boundary with Sikandar Raza at the other end. Once the partnership was broken, Shashank and Jitesh Sharma kept fighting for Punjab before Nitish Reddy ended Jitesh's cameo at 19 in 11 balls, with a four and six each. Abhishek Sharma took the catch, reducing PBKS to 114/6 in 15.3 overs.
Shashank fought till the very end and nearly pulled off another heist with Ashutosh Sharma, but it was not to be. In the 17th over he smoked Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 17 runs, including 3 fours. His innings of 46 off 25 were inclusive of 6 fours and 1 six.
Ashutosh Sharma
Ashutosh gave another glimpse of his stroke play as he smashed 33 off just 15 balls and nearly took his team to victory.
He was severe on Pat Cummins whom he belted for two fours in the 18th over before he bludgeoned Jaydev Unadkat for 2 sixes in the final over to give SRH a scare. Ashutosh and Shashank put on a 66 run stand, but in vain.
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