MULLANPUR (Punjab) : Despite Nitish Reddy’s counter-attacking fifty and Shahbaz Ahmed’s late flourish, a heavy dose of pace from Arshdeep Singh overwhelmed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batters as Punjab Kings (PBKS) restricted SRH to 182/9 in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match here at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
It was a good day at work for Arshdeep who returned with a figure of 4-29 with two wickets in the powerplay and 2 scalps in the back-end as the pace-favoured pitch in Mullanpur only came to his advantage. Sam Curran and Harshal Patel bagged two wickets each while Kagiso Rabada took one.
Reddy scored the highest for SRH with 64 off 37 deliveries while Abdul Samad played a blitz cameo of 25 in 12 balls.
Put to bat first, SRH opener Travis Head was left bamboozled on the very first ball of the game by Kagiso Rabada, which only reflected the possibility of his pitch being immensely favourable for the pacers.
Both Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh started their bowling spells with promise, with Head and Abhishek Sharma struggling to follow their pace. However, the star opener Head shifted gears as he started to showcase his big-hitting abilities, slamming 16 runs off Rabada’s second over of the match, including 3 back-to-back boundaries.
In the 4th over of the game, Head was sent back to the pavilion off Arshdeep’s delivery as Shikhar Dhawan ran back a considerable length to carry out a sensational catch, which marked the end of the Head threat that was looking likely increasingly dangerous.
In the save over, Arshdeep dismissed Aiden Markram for a duck. Sam Curran gave big-hitting SRH a big blow as he dismissed Abhishek Sharma. SRH batters went back into the pavilion after scoring 16 off 11 having already hit a six and a boundary in the same over.
In the 7th over Dhawan brought his spin ace Harpreet Brar into the attack, taking a slight step away from the pace dependency. Nitish Reddy brought up the 50 for SRH with a boundary.
Reddy smoked Brar for two cracking boundaries and one six in the 11th over of the game. A brilliant DRS call due to Curran’s eagerness gave another blow to SRH with the wicket of Tripathi on 11(14).
Harshal Patel bagged the big wicket of Henrich Klaasen in the 14th over of the game. Reddy brought up his maiden IPL half-century. Reddy single-handily hammered Brar for 22 runs with the help of two boundaries and two maximums.
Arshdeep bagged his third wicket of the night which ended the blitz of Abdul Samad, who was looking dangerous with his 25(12) knock. In the same over Arshdeep got PBKS right back on track as he bagged the big wicket of Reddy, but not before the batter played a phenomenal 64(37) innings.
Rabada joined the wicket-taking party as he removed SRH captain Pat Cummins on 3(4). Jaydev Unadkat’s last ball six helped SRH post 182/9 in 20 overs.
Brief score: Sunrisers Hyderabad 182/9 (Nitish Reddy 64, Abdul Samad 25; Arshdeep Singh 4-29) vs Punjab Kings. (ANI)