Sunrisers Hyderabad (201/3) pulled off a miracle win against the invincible-looking Rajasthan (200/7) Royals to add another twist to the tales of this year’s race to playoffs.
On Hyderabad’s wicket, Pat Cummins (2/34) won the toss and chose to bat first. At first glance, his decision appeared to backfire, as Ravichandran Ashwin (0/36) proved too hot in the powerplay. Sunrisers also lost Abhishek Sharma (12/10) and Anmolpreet Singh (5/5), which put tremendous pressure on Travis Head (58/44) and Nitish Reddy (76/42). When Rajasthan took their foot off the accelerator, Reddy and Head counterattacked and smashed every bowler. 
Both players scored fifty and with Heinrich Klaasen’s (42/19) blitz, Sunrisers crossed the 200 runs mark to give a target of 202 runs. With Jos Buttler (0/1) and Sanju Samson (0/3) out in the first over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/41) led Rajasthan Royals to a disastrous start. Sunrisers appeared to be in control, but Yashasvi Jaiswal (67/40) and Riyan Parag (77/49) countered with some attacking displays.
The two youngsters stitched together an impeccable partnership of 134 runs. Rajasthan Royals looked on course to win the match comfortably with 26 runs needed in the last three overs, but T Natarajan (2/35), Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar stole the match from them.
The game was filled with many game-changing moments as it went to the last ball. Let’s take a look at key moments of the match.
Head’s attack on Chahal in 9th over
Sunrisers were 48th runs after the eighth over against Rajasthan’s slow bowlers and appeared clueless. As always, Head rose to the occasion and took charge in the darkest times. Head smashed two sixes and one four in the ninth over by Yuzvendra Chahal (0/62), kicking off the attack. On a slow wicket, Hyderabad eventually found rhythm after that over and scored 200-plus runs.
Nitish Reddy’s onslaught against Chahal
The outing of Chahal against Hyderabad proved too costly for Rajasthan. In the 13th over, Nitish Reddy took over after Head attacked in the 9th over. The Hyderabad batter smashed two sixes and two fours, accumulating 21 runs. In those overs, Hyderabad were batting at 7 runs but after that, it shifted to around 8, which made a big difference in the game.
Klaasen’s finishing touch
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s innings was rescued by the partnership of Reddy and Head, with Klaasen putting the finishing touches on it. With his contribution, the score went past 200, and he provided a solid platform for bowlers to face the second innings. Klaasen smashed 42 runs off just 19 balls, which included swashbuckling sixes against Sandeep Sharma (1/31) in the last over of the innings.
Bhuvi’s double-wicket over
During the chase, everyone’s eyes were on Rajasthan’s openers, Jaswal and Buttler, who were in dangerous form. The world-class Bhuvi sent Buttler back even before he had a chance to get going, and in the same over, he dislodged Samson’s wickers with an inswinging ball of great artistic skill. Hyderabad got a big head start with his over. While Rajasthan recovered well, if one of Samson or Buttler had been on the crease, they would have easily chased.
Cummins accurate penultimate over
There was only 20 runs left off the last two overs for Rajasthan and it seemed like it was all over for Hyderabad, but Cummins had other plans. Once again, the Australian speedster proved his worth by bowling one of his best overs of this season in the death overs. He was pinpoint with his yorkers and didn’t give an inch to Dhruv Jurel (1/3) or Rovman Powell (27/15). In the over, Cummins conceded only 7 overs and left Bhuvi with 13 runs to defend. Bhuvi won the match for Hyderabad and was man-of-the-match, but Cummins’ third over played a crucial role in the comeback.
Sunrisers Hyderabad now sit at fourth position with six wins and four losses, boosting their chances for Playoffs qualification. They will now face Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium where Parimatch odds back them with 2.08x. The Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, sit comfortably at the top spot with eight victories and two losses. The team will now travel to Delhi to face the Capitals, with Parimatch odds of 1.68x favouring them.
