IPL 2024 | Twitter abuzz as Nitish Reddy’s all-round heroics set up Sunrisers’ win in nail-biter

Winning the toss and electing to field first paid rich dividends for the Punjab Kings as Arshdeep Singh outsmarted Travis Head and Aiden Markram in the fourth over, followed by Sam Curran silencing Abhishek Sharma in the fifth over, to sum up a 40-run powerplay. The move to bring in Rahul Tripathi as an impact sub did not work well as the fourth wicket partnership resulted in 25 runs off 28 deliveries with a successful review leading to the 33-year-old’s departure. With the score reading 66/4 halfway through the innings, Nitish Kumar Reddy continued to middle the ball and extract periodic boundaries on a two-paced surface. Following Heinrich Klaasen’s removal by Harshal in the 14th over, Abdul Samad joined Nitish in the assault with a 20-run Harpreet Brar over leading up to a 20-ball 50 runs stand. Subsequently, Arshdeep claimed his four-for coupled with Cummins induced three wickets overall in a space of six balls before a four and a six from Shahbaz propelled the Orange Army to 182/9 in 20 overs.

Similar to their counterparts, the Punjab Kings lost early wickets as Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled in tandem with the new ball, outfoxing Jonny Bairstow, impact sub-Prabhsimran Singh and Shikhar Dhawan inside the powerplay. Sam Curran and Sikandar Raza took time to settle down, culminating in a 27-run powerplay. It was Curran who looked to switch gears, followed by Sikandar Raza after the halfway mark in the chase but Cummins’ shrewd rotation of bowlers ensured that both batters concluded their innings in the late twenties. With the score reading 97/5 in 14 overs, Jitesh Sharma got a four and a six before falling prey to Nitish’s maiden IPL wicket.  Subsequently. Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh countered Nitish and Bhuvneshwar for 28 runs, curtailing the equation to 50 needed from 18 balls. The pair assaulted Natarajan and Unadkat in the last couple of overs, but their 27-ball 66-run stand fell short of overhauling 29 runs in the final over by just two runs amidst three catch drops.

Jaydev Unadkat becomes the first ever No.11 batter to have a strike-rate of 600 in IPL innings. Scores 6*(1).#PBKSvsSRH

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) April 9, 2024