Hyderabad: After Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) sealed a one-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a nail-biting IPL 2024 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, skipper Pat Cummins revealed he had thoughts of Super Over crossing in his mind.
SRH needed to defend 12 runs off the final over, which came down to two runs needed off the last ball. Moreover, they could keep only four fielders outside 30-yard circle due to slow-over rate penalty.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, their veteran fast-bowler, trapped Rovman Powell plumb lbw with a low full toss on middle and leg to take 3-41 and complete a stunning win for SRH over the table-toppers, which now takes them to fourth place in the points table.
“Amazing game. That last ball I kind of forgot if we take a wicket, we could win. I was just thinking Super Over. It is T20 cricket, we get used to batters getting them over the line but when you get to that last over, you do feel like anything can happen. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar) just nailed six yorkers pretty much,” said Cummins after the match ended.
Apart from Bhuvneshwar, Cummins and T Natarajan, the new leading wicket-taker in the competition, took two vital wickets each. Previously, with the bat, SRH reaching 201/7 was due to Nitish Kumar Reddy’s scintillating 76 off 42 balls. Travis Head made 58 off 44 balls, while Heinrich Klaasen hit an unbeaten 42 off 19 deliveries.
“Natarajan is an awesome yorker bowler. He (Nitish) is fantastic. He sums up the conditions really well, took the first ten balls to get himself in and then hit the ball basically wherever he wanted. He is amazing, great in the field, and gives a couple of handy overs (with the ball) as well,” added Cummins.
Sanju Samson, the RR captain, lauded SRH bowlers for stopping the visitors’ from winning the match. “We have really played some close games and won a couple of them. Lost one here, and we have to give credit to the SRH bowlers. We were going at 10 per over till the last over. Margin for error is very less in the IPL and you have to give SRH credit. Knowing the nature of the IPL, you never win the game until you actually win the game.”
Despite losing Jos Buttler and Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 40-ball 67 and Riyan Parag’s 49-ball 77 helped RR be in the hunt of clinching an impressive win, as the duo shared 134-run stand for the third wicket.
“It was very tough to bat on with the new ball. We bowled well in the powerplay. When the ball got old, it was easier to bat and they capitalised really well. You have to give credit to both youngsters (Jaiswal and Parag). They took care of the innings, played responsibility to get there. You tend to take those chances and you tend to get out also. They played really well.”