Bhuvneshwar Kumar starred with a sensational finale as Sunrisers Hyderabad pulled off a heist and stunned Rajasthan Royals by just one run in a last-ball thriller to keep their IPL play-off hopes alive on Thursday. Bhuvneshwar (3/41) needed two to win the last toss and trapped Rovman Powell (27) with a full toss, leaving RR at 200 for seven while chasing a target of 202. The win helped Sunrisers Hyderbad rise to fourth spot. in the table with 12 points from 10 matches. Chennai Super Kings, meanwhile, dropped to fifth spot with 10 points in as many games. The rest of the points table remained unchanged.
Here is the updated points table:
Ruturaj Gaikwad continues to retain the Orange Cap with 509 runs from 10 matches, while T Natarajan surpassed Jasprit Bumrah in the list of highest wicket-takers to become the owner of the Purple Cap.
Nitish Reddy (76 not out) and Travis Head (58) opted to bat and produced explosive fifties, while Heinrich Klassen made an unbeaten 19-ball 42 to take Sunrisers Hyderabad to 201 for three.
Things looked better when Bhuvneshwar removed Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson for ducks in the opening, leaving RR at 1 for 2.
However, youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal (67) and Riyan Parag (77) counter-attacked in the fifties on their way to a grand partnership of 134 runs to lay the foundation for the runchase.
But once the duo got back to the hut, Shimron Hetmyar (13) hit a four and a six as it looked like a regular chase but T Natarajan managed to get rid of Hetmyar, who was killed at long run, after which skipper Pat Cummins removed Dhruv Jurel . , who was caught at deep square leg in the 19th over.
The sudden loss of wickets gave SRH hope of a turnaround but Powell produced a six in the last ball of the 19th over to reduce the equation to 13 off six balls.
The West Indian remained calm and reduced the score to 2 off the last ball, but Bhuvneshwar denied him the glory.
After the win, SRH broke their two-match losing streak and moved to the fourth spot with 12 points, the same as Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants, while RR remained at the top with 16 points.
Chasing the total, Jaiswal and Parag were dropped early in their innings and they took advantage of the reprieve to make a quick recovery.
Parag broke the shackles in third when he set up Bhuvneshwar for two fours and a six. Jaiswal then fired Marco Jansen for two boundaries after Cummins spilled a straightforward catch.
Parag, who was dropped on 24 by Abhishek Sharma, hammered Cummins for another maximum before roping Jansen for two more fours.
Cummins eventually introduced spin to the attack but Jaiswal beat Shahbaz Ahmed with a four to complete his fifty. Three balls later, Parag produced a reverse sweep four to reach his milestone in 32 balls.
Jaiwal then played a T Natarajan delivery onto the stumps, while two overs later Parag was holed out long-on.
Earlier, Head forged a stand of 96 runs off 57 balls for the third wicket with Nitish, who also added another 70 off 32 balls with Klassen to take SRH past the 200 mark for the fifth time this season.
Head, who was dropped by Parag in the first ball of the innings, hit six fours and three sixes while Nitish hit eight maximums and three fours during his brutal attack.
Playing his 300th match, Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been picked for the T20 World Cup, was in the firing line as he conceded 62 in his quota of four overs.
Avesh Khan (2/39) provided the first breakthrough, catching Abhishek (12) at deep midwicket. Sandeep Sharma (1/31) then claimed a first-ball wicket, removing Anmolpreet Singh (5) as SRH scored 37 for 2 in the powerplay, their lowest this IPL.
However, the spin duo of Chahal and R Ashwin (0/36) disappointed as the batters milked them for runs to put SRH on the road to recovery.
Chahal had a terrible night when Head hit him with two sixes and a four during an 18-run over after he went to bowl immediately after the powerplay.
The leg-spinner was then taken apart by Nitish, who plundered him for two sixes and two fours to give 21 runs.
Nitish, who also smashed Ashwin and Avesh for two maximums, then sent Sandeep over extra cover, while Head roped Avesh for another six in the 15th.
However, the Australian played the pacer at his middle stump as SRH slumped to 131/3.
New man Klassen then joined the party and sent Chahal into the court with back-to-back sixes. When Trent Boult was back, Klassen picked him for two fours while firing another six to Sandeep.
(With PTI inputs)
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