NEW DELHI: The IPL madness reached its crescendo yet again as Punjab Kings young batters Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh almost pulled off a miraculous heist against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their nerve-wrecking last-over thriller on Tuesday.
What looked like a comfortable win for the Sunrisers, almost turned out to be a nightmare for the visitors.
Veteran Jaydev Unadkat, who was bowling the final over, had 29 runs to defend.But the pacer was put to the sword by Ashutosh (33*) and Shashank (46*) and it seemed like Sunrisers were on their way to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
But Punjab batters agonizingly fell short by 2 runs as Sunrisers eventually breathed a sigh of relief.
Horrendous fielding that saw three dropped catches in the final over and Unadkat getting hit for three sixes along with three wides brought everyone to the edge of their seats at the MYSIC Stadium.
Unadkat bowled the most expensive 20th over ever while defending the total but lucky Sunrisers had just enough on the board to clinch a win.
Here’s how the final over unfolded!
With 29 needed off the final over, Unadkat started off with a slower ball which Ashutosh dispatched to deep midwicket. Nitish Reddy, at the fence, jumped to catch the ball but instead palmed it over the boundary ropes for a maximum.
Unadkat then bowled two consecutive wides bringing down the equation to 21 off 5 balls.
The legal second ball then saw Abdul Samad dropping another catch, this time at long-off as the ball dropped over the rope for another maximum.
On the third ball of the over, Ashutosh took a couple of runs after pulling the ball to deep midwicket and brought down the equation to 13 off 3 balls.
The fourth ball from Unadkat had a couple of runs in it and then another wide followed.
With 10 needed off the final two balls, Ashutosh’s swing to the deep saw another dropped catch and this time the culprit was Rahul Tripathi. As a single was managed off the dropped catch, 9 runs were now needed off the last ball.
Unadkat then got hit for a six off the last ball but fortunately it wasn’t a no ball as Punjab fell short by 2 runs.
What looked like a comfortable win for the Sunrisers, almost turned out to be a nightmare for the visitors.
Veteran Jaydev Unadkat, who was bowling the final over, had 29 runs to defend.But the pacer was put to the sword by Ashutosh (33*) and Shashank (46*) and it seemed like Sunrisers were on their way to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
But Punjab batters agonizingly fell short by 2 runs as Sunrisers eventually breathed a sigh of relief.
Horrendous fielding that saw three dropped catches in the final over and Unadkat getting hit for three sixes along with three wides brought everyone to the edge of their seats at the MYSIC Stadium.
Unadkat bowled the most expensive 20th over ever while defending the total but lucky Sunrisers had just enough on the board to clinch a win.
Here’s how the final over unfolded!
With 29 needed off the final over, Unadkat started off with a slower ball which Ashutosh dispatched to deep midwicket. Nitish Reddy, at the fence, jumped to catch the ball but instead palmed it over the boundary ropes for a maximum.
Unadkat then bowled two consecutive wides bringing down the equation to 21 off 5 balls.
The legal second ball then saw Abdul Samad dropping another catch, this time at long-off as the ball dropped over the rope for another maximum.
On the third ball of the over, Ashutosh took a couple of runs after pulling the ball to deep midwicket and brought down the equation to 13 off 3 balls.
The fourth ball from Unadkat had a couple of runs in it and then another wide followed.
With 10 needed off the final two balls, Ashutosh’s swing to the deep saw another dropped catch and this time the culprit was Rahul Tripathi. As a single was managed off the dropped catch, 9 runs were now needed off the last ball.
Unadkat then got hit for a six off the last ball but fortunately it wasn’t a no ball as Punjab fell short by 2 runs.
