Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) held their nerve and pulled off a thrilling 4-run win in Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) in Match 40 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at Visakhapatnam. If RPS thought they would breeze through they were in for a rude shock. SRH went to the top of the IPL 9 points table, and RPS got knocked out of the tournament. Bhuvneshwar Kumar proved nigh unplayable in his first spell, taking 1 for 5 in his first 3 overs with 1 maiden. Ashish Nehra was tough to get away, as were Barinder Sran, Moises Henriquess, and Mustafizur Rahman. Ajinkya Rahane lasted only 3 balls, edging Bhuvneshwar behind for a duck. Usman Khawaja was joined at No. 3 by George Bailey. Live Cricket Scorecard: Rising Pune Supergiants vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2016 Match 40 at Visakhapatnam
After putting on 19 runs in decent time with Bailey, Khawaja once again ran himself out. Deepak Hooda, fielding at midwicket, fan managed to fire in a throw good enough to beat Khawaja’s attempted second run. Khawaja was run out for 11 off 8 with 2 boundaries, and RPS were now two men down with 19 on the board in 4 overs. Live Cricket Updates: Rising Pune Supergiants vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2016 Match 40 at Visakhapatnam
MS Dhoni decided to pull a rabbit out of his hat and sent in Ravichandran Ashwin in at No. 4, ahead of Saurabh Tiwary, Dhoni himself, Thisara Perara, and Rajat Bhatia. The move proved to be fairly successful. Ashwin looked in control throughout his stay in the middle, and actually out-scored Bailey in their partnership. Bailey, on the other hand, was far from fluent. He hit 3 fours and 1 six but also faced a slew of dot balls. He ended up with 34 runs from 40 balls and severely hampered RPS’ chances. Bailey was finally done in when he pulled one from Henriques to Nehra at square leg.
Ashwin was out soon after, getting strangled down the leg side by Sran as Naman Ojha took a superb catch. Ojha has been among the most athletic wicketkeepers of the tournament so far, and he once again dove to take a one-handed catch. Ashwin was out for 29 off 25 balls with 3 fours. He had played his part well, but RPS were hampered by Bailey’s crawl.
Dhoni was now joined by Thisara Perara, with a desperate need for some quick runs. RPS needed 52 off 30 balls when Perera walked out to join Dhoni. Sran was hit straight down the ground for six by Dhoni as RPS scored 10 runs off the over. Mustafizur followed up with a typically terrific over which saw a mere 5 runs. Bhuvneshwar came on to bowl the 18th over, and Perera managed to smack a six off the first legitimate delivery. Dhoni then slashed one to third man for four more as RPS managed to get 15 runs off the over. That left RPS With 22 runs to make off 2 overs.
Mustafizur bowled the all-important 19th over. Dhoni used soft hands and his considerable speed to take two twos off the first two balls. A dot ball followed, and only 4 more runs were scored off the last 3 balls.
RPS now needed 14 to win off the final over, bowled by Ashish Nehra. Perera could take just 1 off the first ball. Now 13 runs were needed off 5, but with Dhoni on strike. Nehra bowled a superb yorker next up which Dhoni could only tap for a single; now 12 off 4. Perera swung extremely hard but could only get the ball as far cover, and was caught by Henriques. Dhoni was on strike with 12 needed off 3 balls. Nehra bowled a low full toss, and Dhoni dispatched it over long on nonchalantly. Nehra followed up with a short ball that Dhoni top-edged to third man. Sran threw the ball to Yuvraj Singh, who was waiting at the batsman’s end. Yuvraj ran with the ball and caught Dhoni well short to get Dhoni run out. Zampa found the outside edge of Adam Zampa off the final ball of the match and once again Ojha pulled off a blinder. Had he missed the ball it could have run to the boundary and the match would have gone into the super over. Instead, it was caught brilliantly by Ojha.
Earlier, Adam Zampa ran through the SRH batting with a 6-wicket haul RPS restricted them to a disappointing 137 for 8. Ashok Dinda and RP Singh were miserly at the start, and successfully stifled David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan early in the innings. Warner, who elected to bat first after winning the toss, edged RP Singh to MS Dhoni after making 11 from 14 balls, with SRH having scored 18 in just over 3 overs. READ: Adam Zampa’s 6 for 19 in IPL 2016, and the best figures in T20 cricket
Dhawan looked much more secure in the middle, and kept the runs coming at a decent rate. However, SRH No. 3 Kane Williamson was not able to force the pace at his end. Dhawan was arguably the best batsman on display, and ended up scoring an attractive 27-ball 33 with 2 fours and as many sixes. He dominated the 46-run stand with Williamson. READ: Adam Zampa records 2nd best figures in IPL history
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin came into the attack and started stifling the SRH batsmen. Dhawan ended up trying to hit Ashwin down the ground but only picked out Saurabh Tiwary at long on. Yuvraj Singh made his way in at No. 4 and was immediately put under pressure by Ashwin and MS Dhoni, who put in two slips. Yuvraj was not able to get the ball off the square early in his innings, and at one stage had made only 5 off 14 balls. Yuvraj soon found his timing, and hit Rajat Bhatia over midwicket for six. Thisara Perara was smashed for a six and a four off successive balls, but Yuvraj’s blitz came to a premature end when he hit Adam Zampa to long on.
Zampa came into his own after Yuvraj’s dismissal, and ended up taking the first five-wicket haul in IPL 9. Williamson holed out to Bhatia after crawling to a 37-ball 31. Moises Henriques too holed out to Bhatia. Deepak Hooda managed to hit a couple of sixes but got thoroughly decieved by one from Zampa to get stumped by Dhoni for 14 off 5 balls. Naman Ojha was bowled by Zampa for 7, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar tried to slog off the last ball of the innings only to get caught by Tiwary in the deep. Zampa finished with mind-numbing figures of 6 for 19 — the second-best figures in IPL history.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 137 for 8 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 33, Kane Williamson 31; Adam Zampa 6 for 19) beat Rising Pune Supergiants 133 for 8 in 20 overs (George Bailey 34, MS Dhoni 30; Ashish Nehra 3 for 29) by 4 runs.
Man of the Match: Adam Zampa
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is an animal lover and comic, film and TV geek. A fast bowler at heart, he enjoys watching a good, low-scoring game of cricket. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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