Young Nitish Reddy showed great character during a crucial 37-ball 64 as Sunrisers Hyderabad registered a two-run win over Punjab Kings and survived a bold attack from Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma in a shaky IPL match on Tuesday. The 20-year-old Reddy was sent to bat and lifted SRH to 182/9 after PBKS had the visitors reeling at 66 for four in the 10th over. PBKS were stopped at 180/6, but they would not have gone so far had it not been for a scintillating partnership of 66 runs between the heroes of their last match, Shashank (46 not out from 25 balls) and Ashutosh (33 not out from 15 balls ). Needing 29 runs in Jaydev Unadkat's final overbow, SRH dropped three catches as Shashank and Ashutosh came within touching distance of another stunning win.
Visakhapatnam-born Reddy, who started out as a batsman at the age group level before emerging as a bowling all-rounder, hit five sixes and four fours during his unbeaten knock.
Left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh (4/29) was the standout bowler for PBKS, but SRH still ended up with a total that looked unlikely at one point.
Abdul Samad chipped in with a 12-ball 25 before Jaydev Unadkat ended the SRH innings with a last-ball six.
In reply, the hosts got off to a disastrous start as they lost three wickets with just 20 runs on the board, including captain Shikhar Dhawan (14 off 16 balls) who was brilliantly beaten by Heinrich Klaasen despite coming up against seamer Bhuvneshwar. Kumar (32/2).
The run-rate pressure got to Dhawan after the early dismissals of his opening partner Jonny Bairstow and Prabhsimran Singh.
Bairstow was bowled by SRH skipper Pat Cummins (1/22) for a three-ball duck after appearing to play over the line, while Prabhsimran (4) was sent back by Bhuvneshwar after the batsman got an edge while trying to clear the ball to process. ball on the leg side.
Sam Curran was dismissed for a 22-ball 29 by T Natarajan (1/33) thanks to a stunning catch from Cummins midway through the match.
Earlier, the match started on an eventful note as Travis Head (21 off 15 balls) would have been out first ball after a clear lead. But the opener has Kagiso Rabada to thank for extending his stay in the middle as the South African league leader, having opened Head completely, was unsure whether he had indeed created a lead.
Wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma immediately went up, but Rabada did not join his colleague loudly enough as the batsman was given a reprieve as PBKS refused to give a review.
Replays showed a clear lead, and it was strange from Rabada's side who were smashed by Head for three consecutive boundaries for a 16-run third over.
Head got a big lead for a four, got the second boundary offside and then played one on the rise to mid-on for his third four in a row off Rabada.
Despite living a charmed life, Head failed to capitalize, thanks to PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who ran back and kept his eyes on the ball to complete an excellent catch, which was followed by his trademark celebration of the dike.
It was a big breakthrough for PBKS and their captain was delighted, and so was bowler Arshdeep Singh, who benefited from Dhawan's judgment and athleticism.
Two balls later, Aiden Markram walked back to the dugout for a duck after edging a departing Arshdeep delivery to Jitesh.
Abhishek Sharma, who had just hit Sam Curran for a fine six and a four, fell to the England all-rounder's next ball after coming around the wicket in search of another big one. He mistimed it and Shashank Singh held on to a good catch to leave SRH in trouble at 39/3 in the fifth over.
The powerplay yielded just 40 runs for the loss of three wickets as PBKS dominated the visitors, forcing SRH to change their plans and send in Rahul Tripathi as the impact sub. Tripathi replaced Head.
Tripathi (11 off 14 balls) and Heinrich Klaasen (9 in 9 balls) failed to get going, leaving SRH reeling at 100 for five early in the 14th over.
It was then up to Reddy to save the team, and the youngster did so with aplomb, taking 22 runs from a Harpreet Brar to lift his side, while adding 50 runs in a short space of time with Samad.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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