SRH bowlers deliver dramatic last-ball win against RR

Table toppers Rajasthan Royals looked well on course to victory when Cummins and Bhuvneshwar turned the tables on them

Pat Cummins, that crowd-silencing captain, brought out a deafening roar from the Hyderabad spectators as he won the toss. "Crowd’s a bit more excited about our batters than our bowlers,” the Australian chuckled.

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Bhuvneshwar Kumar, centre, celebrates with teammates (AP)

It was his bowlers, specifically Bhuvneshwar Kumar with two wickets in the first over and one off the last ball with two runs needed, that however delivered a dramatic one-run victory for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at home against Rajasthan Royals (RR). On a night his batters produced another 200-plus total, albeit taking a different route, Cummins, through a brilliant seven-run penultimate over, and Bhuvneshwar showed the value of experience in plucking out an unlikely win after half-centurions Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal put their team within distance of the 202-run chase.

RR, who have been clinical in their chases this season, were dealt with an early wobble as Bhuvneshwar got the new ball to move. Jos Buttler was nicked off to slip and Sanju Samson bowled off a peach that swung in viciously in a two-wicket first over. SRH could well have added two more quickly had Cummins and Abhishek Sharma taken chances offered by Jaiswal and Parag at mid-off and covers, respectively.

Such was the tempo and tango of the Jaiswal-Parag drive that both brought up their half-centuries in the 11th over, off boundaries and off similar number of balls (30 and 31). But with T Natarajan and Cummins removing both within a couple of overs, SRH got an unlikely look-in. The two bowlers cracked it open when Natarajan got Shimron Hetmyer holed out and Cummins had Dhruv Jurel in a seven-run 19th over where Rovman Powell hit a last-ball six.

It brought the equation down to 13 in the last over and two off the last ball when Bhuvneshwar with his straight and full delivery trapped Powell in front. The crowd, silenced for much of that chase, found its voice again.

Silenced however were the usually high-flying Travis Head, who was dropped first ball by Parag, and Abhishek through some smart powerplay bowling by RR. Accustomed to starting in fifth gear, SRH were stuck on second at 25 in four overs with Head going at less than run-a-ball. Bowling two overs up front, R Ashwin spun a web of doubt on the southpaws and stifled their free-flowing ways on a surface that gripped a bit.

Something had to give. And it did, in the form of Abhishek pulling Avesh Khan to deep square leg in the first ball of the fifth over and Anmolpreet Singh picking out the midwicket fielder the first ball of the sixth.

The team that smashed a hundred in the powerplay laboured to fifty at the start of the ninth over, which incidentally also broke SRH’s shackles. Head pounced on Chahal, who had a rare off night leaking 62, for back-to-back sixes.

Nitish Kumar Reddy produced magic of his own against the leg-spinner, taking him down for 20 with a range of strokes dancing down the track, sweeping straight and reverse. The right-hander's timed-to-perfection sixes over extra cover off pacers were equally breathtaking as SRH got back to their six-hitting ways.

Head's 44-ball 58 should have probably ended a ball earlier but it didn't matter as Avesh bowled him going for a scoop. Parag's second drop of the night, this time giving Heinrich Klaasen a reprieve on the boundary line, though did. The next ball being deposited into the stands showed why.

Klaasen (42*, 19b) joined forces with Reddy in giving a 70-run impetus from the last five overs that thrust SRH past 200.