Another nerve-wrecking last-over finish saw Sunrisers Hyderabad notch their fourth win of the season, a much-needed one, as they beat Rajasthan Royals in a thriller in Match 52 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Abdul Samad provided a blockbuster finish with a last-ball six in a drama-filled last over from Sandeep Sharma as SRH chased 215 to keep their hopes alive in IPL 2023. Impactful knocks from Abhishek Sharma (55 off 34) and Rahul Tripathi (47 off 29) laid the platform for SRH before blistering cameos under pressure from Glenn Phillips (25 off 7) and Samad (17* off 7) powered the away team past the finish line. Earlier, Jos Buttler had put on a T20 batting masterclass to entertain Jaipur with a scintillating innings of 95(59) while captain Sanju Samson had played the support act of 66 (38) to power RR to a daunting 214/2.
Chasing 215, Sunrises Hyderabad got off to a brisk start courtesy openers Anmolpreet Singh and Abhishek Sharma. Impact Player Anmolpreet was the chief aggressor with four fours and a six in the Powerplay as SRH brought up their 50 in the sixth over. Chahal then came into the attack and broke the 51-run stand as he had Anmolpreet caught at deep mid-wicket as RR reached 51/1 at the end of first six overs.
RR kept things tight post powerplay, giving away just 21 runs from 7-9 overs. Rahul Tripathi and Abhishek Sharma then pressed the accelerator button by taking 14 runs off Murugan Ashwin over. The duo brought up the fifty-run stand and Tripathi too reached his half-century with a thumping six over deep mid-wicket off R Ashwin. But the wily spinner struck back, having Abhishek (55 off 34) caught at short third man off the next ball. RR brought on Obed McCoy as their Impact Substitute in place of R Ashwin in the 13th over. Tripathi and Klaasen though continued to attack and hammered a couple of sixes and a four off Murugan Ashwin to make it a 19 run over.
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Klaasen joined the party straightaway, going after Chahal and cracking a six and a four but it was Chahal who had the last laugh as he had Klaasen caught at long off in the same over to provide a huge moment in the match with the equation reading 57 needed off 24 balls.
Rahul Tripathi got lucky as he was dropped by Samson after gloving his pull to the keeper. He rubbed salt onto RR’s wounds by smacking a six next ball. Markram opened his boundary account via a pull over fine leg to make it 13 off the 17th over.
With 44 needed off 17, Chahal provided another crucial moment as he struck two blows, having Tripathi (47 off 29) caught at deep mid-wicket and trapping Aiden Markram LBW two balls later. He bowled a brilliant over picking two wickets and giving away just three runs to finish with fantastic figures of 4-0-29-4. With 41 needed off 12, Glenn Phillips started the penultimate over with a bang, smashing three sixes off the first three balls, off Kuldip Yadav. The fourth ball was slashed past the short third man fielder for a four. Phillips then went for another big one off the next ball but ended up mistiming it to extra cover where Hetmyer pulled off a superb catch running backwards. The drama-filled over saw 24 runs scored in the over along with the wicket of the dangerous Phillips.
With 17 needed off the last over, Samson tossed the ball again to Sandeep Sharma. He nearly struck first ball as Abdul Samad sliced one to short third man where Obed McCoy dropped it and conceded two. Samad then smashed a six next ball, over long on where Root nearly pulled off a fantastic effort. With 9 needed off 4, Sandeep finally nailed his yorker as Samad jammed it to long off and scampered through for a couple. The next one brought just a single as Samad mistimed his loft to long off. With six needed off two, Jansen flicked a low full toss straight to mid-wicket for just a single. The drama wasn’t over yet. With five needed off the last ball, Sandeep thought that he had Samad caught at long off, off the last ball and won the match but the buzzer went off at the ground for a no ball and replays showed he had overstepped. No ball. It was chaotic. With 4 needed off the last ball, Samad smashed it straight down the ground for a flat six to win a thriller for SRH. It was SRH’s highest successful run chase in IPL.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bat. They made three changes to the starting XI as debutant Joe Root, Kuldip Yadav and Murugan Ashwin replaced Devdutt Padikkal, Trent Boult and Adam Zampa. They named Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Jason Holder, Obed McCoy and Adam Zampa as their substitutes.
Sunrisers Hyderabad made changes to their starting eleven as Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips and debutant Vivrant Sharma replaced Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook and Kartik Tyagi. Harry Brook, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Dagar, Nitish Reddy and Sanvir Singh made it to the away team’s substitutes list.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, just like he’s done so far in IPL 2023, went on the attack straightaway with a couple of fours in the first over off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He hit one uppishly which cleared mid on by inches and flicked one to fine leg where it fell just short of Vivrant Sharma who misjudged it and let it through for the second four of the over. Buttler too found his groove early with a trickle to fine leg for a four before Jaiswal thumped a 88m six into the stands to end the second over from Marco Jansen.
The duo continued to attack as Buttler cracked a four over extra cover off T Natarajan and then Jaiswal hammered a 90m maximum over long on off Bhuvneshwar. Jaiswal hit a couple of fours off Jansen to bring up RR’s fifty in the fifth over but the South African all-rounder had the last laugh as he had Jaiswal (35 off 18) caught at short third man off the final ball of the over as RR reached 61/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler then went berserk against Mayank Markande and hit him for three sixes in an over. Buttler took the attack to Abhishek Sharma as well as the duo took 12 runs off the 10th over to take RR to 107/1 at the halfway mark. The duo kept the scoreboard ticking with at least a four or six every over as Buttler brought up his fifty off just 32 balls and the duo brought up the 100-run stand off just 60 balls. The pair again went after Markande, cracking a six each to make it 14 off the 16th over. Buttler took down Bhuvneshwar on his return with three fours as RR smashed 50 in the four over period from 14-17.
Natarajan then provided some relief, giving away just five in the 18th over as Samson brought up his fifty off 33 balls. Bhuvneshwar Kumar finally broke the 138-run stand as he trapped Buttler 95(59) LBW off via a successful review. Bhuvneshwar bowled a brilliant over, giving away just seven along with the wicket of Buttler via a superb yorker to trap him leg before. Samson though finished well with a couple of fours and a six off Natarajan in the final over to propel RR to a daunting 214/2. Samson remained unbeaten on 66 off 38.
SRH introduced Anmolpreet Singh as their Impact Player, replacing T Natarajan, at the start of their batting innings.
