Brushing aside the first-ball dismissal of the explosive Travis Head, his opening partner Abhishek Sharma showcased an amazing range of stroke-play to ensure Sunrisers Hyderabad finished off its league engagements in style with a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Sunday.
Chasing a victory target of 215, Sunrisers’ batting depth came to the fore, with Rahul Tripathi setting the tone with some brilliant strokes and then Abhishek serving another reminder of his growing stature as a future India star.
The way Abhishek stood up and swung Rishi Dhawan first and later carted spinner Harpreet Brar for two huge sixes was an indication of his authority, class, and timing against pace and spin alike.
Later, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen came up with superbly-paced knocks to help the team’s cause, even as the Punjab bowlers faltered on yet another perfect batting strip.
Great start
Earlier, southpaw Atharva Taide and Prabhsimran Singh ensured a splendid start for Punjab, putting on 97 in 9.1 overs before the former slashed a wide ball from left-arm pacer T. Natarajan straight to the fielder.
The pair batted with great freedom, and the way Atharva straight drove SRH skipper Pat Cummins and later swung Bhuvneshwar Kumar over the fence effortlessly was a treat to watch.
Prabhsimran also showed his class by pulling Cummins to the fence and then whipping the Australian effortlessly over square leg for a six.
The stage was set for the dangerous Rilee Rossouw, and he came good with some lusty blows, with a penchant for the pull stroke. He and Prabhsimran put on 54 for the second wicket before the latter was snapped up brilliantly by wicketkeeper Klaasen off leg-spinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth in the 15th over.
Punjab lost its way in the last five overs, scoring just 55 runs and losing three wickets, including those of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma cheaply.
Captain Jitesh Sharma’s cameo, including two huge sixes off the last two balls of the innings from the most expensive SRH bowler Nitish, boosted the total.
Scoreboard
Punjab Kings: Atharva Taide c Sanvir b Natarajan 46 Prabhsimran Singh c Klaasen b Viyaskanth 71 Rilee Rossouw c Samad b Cummins 49 Shashank Singh run out (Nitish) 2 Jitesh Sharma not out 32 Ashutosh Sharma c Sanvir b Natarajan 2 Shivam Singh not out 2 Extras: 10 (lb-5, w-4, nb-1)
Total: 214/5 in 20 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-151, 3-174, 4-181, 5-187
Sunriser Hyderabad bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-36-0, Pat Cummins 4-0-36-1, T Natarajan 4-0-33-2, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 4-0-37-1, Shahbaz Ahmed 1-0-13-0, Nitish Reddy 3-0-54-0.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head b Arshdeep 1 Abhishek Sharma c Shivam b Shashank 66 Rahul Tripathi c Arshdeep b Harshal 33 Nitish Reddy c Shivam b Harshal 37 Heinrich Klaasen b Brar 42 Shahbaz Ahmed c Shashank b Harshal 3 Abdul Samad not out 11 Sanvir Singh not out 6 Extras: 17 (lb-6, w-10, nb-1)
Total: 215/6 in 19.1 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-72, 3-129, 4-176, 5-197, 6-208
Punjab Kings bowling: Arshdeep Singh 4-0-37-2, Rishi Dhawan 3-0-35-0, Harshal Patel 4-0-49-2, Rahul Chahar 4-0-43-0, Harpreet Brar 3-0-36-1, Shashank Singh 1-0-5-1, Atharva Taide 0.1-0-4-0.
