How a vintage Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the exciting Nitish Kumar Reddy helped SRH pull off a heist against RR

The new ball swung in the second innings and who better to have it than Bhuvneshwar Kumar? It was first Jos Buttler, who tried to cut an away-swinger and nicked it straight to Marco Jansen at slip. And then he turned back the clock to deliver a vintage in-swinger to make a mess of Sanju Samson’s stumps.

And the veteran returned at the climax to rescue his team by bowling a brilliant final over to defend 13 runs, picking Rovman Powell’s wicket when two were needed off one ball.

Defending 201, Bhuvnshwar set the tone but Marco Jansen, who came in place of Aiden Markram and is a specialist new-ball bowler, looked rusty in his opening burst. He let Rajasthan off the hook and let their innings get underway after the early setbacks.

Jumps of Joy in Hyderabad 🥳

Terrific turn of events from @SunRisers‘ bowlers as they pull off a nail-biting win 🧡

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/zRmPoMjvsd #TATAIPL | #SRHvRR pic.twitter.com/qMDgjkJ4tc

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 2, 2024

The hosts did not help themselves by dropping a couple of easy catches inside the Powerplay. First, it was Yashasvi Jaiswal whom Pat Cummins dropped at mid-on of Jansen’s bowling and in the sixth over, Riyan Parag punched one to Abhishek Sharma who spilled a chance at cover off the bowling of T Natarajan. The drops and some ordinary bowling let Royals get on a roll and the young duo would put on 134 runs for the third wicket.

Jaiswal, Parag stand up

Jaiswal, who started the tournament slowly, came into form with a blistering ton against Mumbai Indians and is peaking at the right time. When the SRH bowlers tried to bounce him, the left-hander played some crisp cut shots and authentic pulls.

While Jaiswal was waiting for back-of-length deliveries, Parag got his boundaries with smart batting. Every time Cummins tried to come up with a plan to squeeze the duo, Parag accessed different areas of the field showing the range of shots he possesses.

SRH’s ploy in the second half of the bowling innings – slower bumpers – came unstuck on the night. Irrespective of the pace the bouncer came at, Parag with his high backlift deposited the ball into the second tier of the stands. This forced SRH to resort to yorkers to tighten things up. While it bore fruit when Natarajan cleaned up Jaiswal, everytime it missed its mark, Parag ensured the ball went for a boundary.

Riyan Parag of Rajasthan Royals and Yashaswi Jaiswal of Rajasthan Royals during match 50 of the Indian Premier League season 17 (IPL 2024) between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals held at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on the 2nd May 2024. (Photo by Faheem Hussain/ Sportzpics for IPL)

But once Parag was picked up by Cummins, the Royals batting got themselves into a pickle by losing wickets and letting the run rate climb. Cummins, who was practising yorkers in the warm-ups before the game, nailed them to perfection when it mattered the most, in the 19th over giving away just seven runs.

Nitish lights up stadium

Sunrisers have now gone past the 200-mark five times in the tournament. The backbone of Thursday’s batting effort was promising all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy. The innings was progressing at snail’s pace with even Travis Head scoring at just around run-a-ball. When the left-hander flicked the switch against Yuzvendra Chahal to find an 18-run over, things began moving.

Thereafter, Reddy took the onus on himself to display his six-hitting prowess. There were no half-measures from the 20-year-old if the ball was in the arc. Off all the eight sixes he slammed, the one off Sandeep Sharma’s wide yorker into the second tier over deep extra cover was the shot of the game.

Once Head fell, it was Heinrich Klaasen who joined the party. He added three more sixes to his tally taking it to 31, surpassing the previous record held by David Warner.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 201/3 in 20 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 76 not out, Travis Head 58, Heinrich Klaasen 42 not out; Avesh Khan 2/39) beat Rajasthan Royals 200/7 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 77, Yashasvi Jaiswal 67; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/41, Cummins 2/34, T Natarajan 2/35) by 1 run