Bhuvneshwar Kumar turned out to be the hero, striking the big blows when it mattered most, to help Sunrisers Hyderabad pull off a sensational one-run win over table-topper Rajasthan Royals, in an IPL match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.
With 13 runs needed off the last over bowled by Bhuvneshwar, the match came down to two runs off the last ball. He trapped the big-hitting Rovman Powell leg-before to trigger celebrations in the stands and in the team’s dug out.
Earlier, Bhuvneshwar produced a dream first over, sending back Impact Player Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson for ducks to make an early dent to Royals’ hopes, who were chasing 202 for a win.
But the visitors stayed in the hunt when the young guns Yashasvi Jaiswal (67, 40b, 7x4, 2x6) and Riyan Parag (77, 49b, 8x4, 4x6) put on 134 off 82 balls by treating the bowlers with contempt and playing strokes all over the park.
SRH skipper Pat Cummins’ third and fourth overs, during which he picked up the wickets of Parag and Dhruv Jurel without being expensive, put the home team back in the hunt.
Earlier, the in-form opener Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh fell cheaply as the home team scored just 37 for two in the PowerPlay against a disciplined Royals bowling attack. Travis Head, who scored 18 runs off 17 balls in the first six overs, was lucky to survive when a slash off the first ball of the innings from Trent Boult just flew past Parag at backward point.
Soon the left-hander switched gears, and in the company of the free-stroking Nitish Kumar Reddy (76 not out, 42b, 3x4, 8x6), pulled and lofted leggie Yuzvendra Chahal for two sixes in the ninth over.
Later, Nitish hit two huge sixes and a four in Chahal’s third over and then one over extra-cover off pacer Sandeep Sharma to show his class.
Nitish’s two crucial stands — 96 (57 balls) with Head (58, 44b, 6x4, 3x6) for the third wicket and an unbeaten 70 with Heinrich Klaasen (42 not out, 19b, 3x4, 3x6) — saw Sunrisers come back strongly and breach the 200-run mark.
