Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen guide SRH to victory over PBKS

Fiery knocks from Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen guided Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase down 215 against Punjab Kings with five balls to spare in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing a mammoth total of 215 runs, SRH didn’t have the start they wanted as Travis Head was sent back to the pavilion on the first ball of the innings. After Head’s dismissal, Rahul Tripathi came out to bat alongside Abhishek Sharma. Both batters put on a partnership of 72 runs before Tripathi was dismissed after scoring 33 runs in just 18 balls with four boundaries and two sixes. SRH stood at 72/2 in 5 overs.

Nitish Reddy joined Abhishek Sharma at the crease, and the duo built a partnership of 57 runs. Abhishek played a magnificent innings, scoring 66 runs in just 28 balls, laced with five boundaries and six maximums, before being dismissed. SRH’s total was 129/3 in 10.1 overs.

Heinrich Klaasen then came to the crease and continued the chase. The home side reached the 150-run mark on the last ball of the 12th over, with Klaasen hitting a maximum off Rahul Chahar’s bowling. Nitish Reddy was dismissed after a brilliant knock of 37 runs in 25 balls, featuring three maximums and one four. Shahbaz Ahmed joined but managed only three runs before being sent back to the dressing room, leaving SRH at 197/5 in 16.5 overs.

Klaasen was dismissed at a score of 208 after scoring 42 runs in 26 balls, including three fours and two sixes. Despite his dismissal, SRH chased down the total with five balls remaining in the match.

For PBKS, Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel were the pick of the bowlers, each bagging two wickets in their four-over spells, conceding 37 and 49 runs respectively. Harpreet Brar and Shashank Singh took one wicket each in their respective spells.

Earlier in the day, Punjab Kings’ stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first in the 69th match of the ongoing 17th edition of the cash-rich league. Openers Atharva Taide and Prabhsimran Singh started the innings with a positive intent, bringing up the side’s half-century in the sixth over.

The Kings lost their first wicket in the 10th over when Taide was dismissed after scoring 46 runs in 27 balls, featuring five fours and two sixes. T Natarajan took the wicket at a team score of 97. Prabhsimran completed his fifty in the 11th over as the team reached 100 runs. The Kings touched the 150-run mark in 13.5 overs with Prabhsimran taking a single off Natarajan.

Prabhsimran was dismissed after a marvellous innings of 71 runs in 45 balls, including seven boundaries and four maximums, with the team score at 151/2 in 14.2 overs. Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma failed to score runs in their last match of the campaign, both getting out for just 2 runs each. Rossouw played a crucial knock, scoring 49 runs in 24 balls with three fours and four sixes.

In the end, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma played a quickfire unbeaten cameo of 32 off 15 balls, with two fours and two sixes.

For SRH, Natarajan was the highest wicket-taker, snapping two wickets in his four-over spell, conceding 33 runs. Pat Cummins and Vijaykanth took one wicket each in their four-over spells, conceding 36 and 37 runs respectively.