SRH vs RR, IPL 2024: Sunrisers Hyderabad register one-run win over Rajasthan Royals in last-ball thriller | cricket news

Bhuvneshwar Kumar produced a star turn with a sensational final over as Sunrisers Hyderabad kept their IPL playoff hopes alive by defeating Rajasthan Royals by just one run in a last-ball thriller on Thursday. Needing two runs to win off the last ball, Bhuvneshwar (3/41) trapped Rovman Powell (27) on a full toss, leaving RR at 200 for seven while chasing the target of 202. Nitish Reddy (76 not out) and Travis Head (58), who came to bat first, scored explosive fifties, while Heinrich Klaasen scored unbeaten 42 runs in 19 balls, taking Sunrisers Hyderabad to 201 runs for three wickets.

Things were looking better when Bhuvneshwar dismissed Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson for ducks in the opening overs, leaving RR at 1 for 2.

However, young Yashasvi Jaiswal (67) and Riyan Parag (77) hit back and laid the foundation of the run chase with a huge partnership of 134 runs.

But once the pair were back in the hut, Shimron Hetmyer (13) hit a four and a six as it looked like a regulation chase, but T Natarajan got rid of Hetmyer , who holed out to long-on and then captain Pat Cummins removed Dhruv Jurel. Who was caught out at deep square leg in the 19th over.

SRH were hoping for a change due to the sudden loss of wickets but Powell hit a six on the last ball of the 19th over to bring the equation to 13 runs in six balls.

The West Indies player exercised control on the last ball and took the score to 2 runs but Bhuvneshwar did not give him this chance.

After the win, SRH snapped their two-game losing streak and moved to fourth position, level with Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants with 12 points, while RR remained on top with 16 points.

Chasing the target, Jaiswal and Parag were dropped early in their innings and took advantage of the respite to make quick recoveries.

Parag broke the tie in the third over when he hit two fours and a six off Bhuvneshwar. After Cummins dropped a straight forward catch, Jaiswal hit two fours on Marco Johnson.

Parag, who was dismissed by Abhishek Sharma for 24, hit another maximum off Cummins, followed by two more fours off Jensen.

Cummins finally incorporated spin into the attack but Jaiswal completed his half-century by hitting a boundary off Shahbaz Ahmed. Three balls later, Parag completed his milestone in 32 balls with a reverse sweep four.

After this, Jaywal played T Natarajan’s ball on the stumps, while after two overs, Parag was out at long-on.

Earlier, Head shared a partnership of 96 runs off 57 balls for the third wicket with Nitish, who added 70 runs off 32 balls with Klaasen to take SRH past 200 for the fifth time this season.

Head, who was dropped by Parag on the first ball of the innings, hit six fours and three sixes, while Nitish hit eight sixes and three fours during his ferocious onslaught.

Yuzvendra Chahal, playing his 300th match, who has been selected for the T20 World Cup, was on the attacking line as he conceded 62 runs in his quota of four overs.

Avesh Khan (2/39) got the first success by getting Abhishek (12) caught at deep midwicket. After this, Sandeep Sharma (1/31) took the wicket of Anmolpreet Singh (5) on the very first ball, due to which SRH scored 37 runs for 2 wickets in the powerplay, which is their lowest score in this IPL.

However, the spin duo of Chahal and R Ashwin (0/36) disappointed as the batsmen gave away plenty of runs to put SRH on the path to recovery.

Chahal had a very bad night when Head hit him for two sixes and a four during his 18-run over when he came to bowl immediately after the powerplay.

The leg spinner was then dismissed by Nitish, who scored 21 runs with two sixes and two fours.

Nitish, who also hit two sixes off Ashwin and Avesh, then sent Sandeep to extra cover while Head hit another six off Avesh in the 15th over.

However, the Australian played the pacer onto his middle stump as SRH slipped to 131/3.

After this, new player Klaasen also joined the party and sent Chahal into orbit with back-to-back sixes. When Trent Boult came back, Klaasen picked him for two fours, while hitting another six off Sandeep.

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