Batting at a strike rate of 209.41 this IPL season, Abhishek Sharma on Sunday received the biggest compliment of his life when premier pacer Pat Cummins said he wouldn’t like to bowl at the explosive left-hander as “it’s scary”. In the ongoing edition of the league, Abhishek has put fear in the minds of bowlers, including Cummins, his skipper at Sunrisers Hyderabad. He blazed away to a 28-ball 66 in SRH’s four-wicket win over Punjab Kings. The young left-hander hit six sixes and five fours as SRH shot down Punjab Kings’ target of 215 with five balls to spare.

“He (Abhishek) is amazing. I wouldn’t want to bowl to him. It’s scary as he plays with freedom, not only against pacers but also against spinners,” the Australian fast bowler said at the post-match presentation.

The 23-year-old, who represents Punjab at domestic level, has been in phenomenal form this season, aggregating 467 runs from 13 matches at a strike rate of nearly 210 while hitting 39 sixes and 35 fours.

Cummins also hailed Nitish Reddy who made a crucial 25-ball 37 while batting at No 4.

“Nitish is a class player, matured beyond his age, seems to sum up the game really well, he is perfect for our top-order,” he said.

“It has been great and amazing. I didn’t know many guys coming into this season, but we have played great cricket and had some fun. Great bunch of guys,” Cummins added.

The win kept SRH on course for a top-two finish that will give them an extra opportunity to make the final.

“We have won five out of seven matches here, it has been great and amazing. It’s really satisfying and exciting. I haven’t played in finals before, we are playing some really good cricket, excited for what’s ahead,” Cummins said.

Lara’s batting tips helping me: Abhishek

Abhishek said he has benefitted a lot after working with batting great Brian Lara, who was involved with the franchise in the past.

“I have done some work with him, he’s in touch. That’s helping me now,” Abhishek said.

His fifty came off 21 balls, the slowest of the three half-centuries he has made this season, summing up his belligerence.

Abhishek’s previous two fifties came off 16 balls versus Mumbai Indians and 19 balls against Lucknow Super Giants.

“My days are going good so I should utilise it for my team. I wanted to contribute as the target was big today.

“I think I have told this before, during Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy I was clear how I was going to play and dominate in the IPL.

“I’m just waiting for the loose balls, I am going hard against them and trying to put them (bowlers) under pressure,” Abhishek added.

Punjab Kings (PBKS) pacer Harshal Patel levelled with Australian pacer Andrew Tye to become the player with the highest number of wickets for the franchise in a single Indian Premier League (IPL) edition on Sunday. Harshal accomplished this feat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their final league stage game. In the game, Harshal took 2/49 in four overs, at an economy rate of over 12. He took wickets of Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

In the ongoing season, Harshal has taken 24 wickets at an average of 19.87 and an economy rate of 9.73, with the best bowling figures of 3/15. He is the leading wicket-taker this season, but he would not have any more opportunity to add to his tally since his team is not in the playoffs.

Andrew Tye (24 wickets in the 2018 edition), Kagiso Rabada (23 in the 2022 edition) and Shami (20 in the 2020 edition) have taken the joint-highest, second-highest and third-highest number of wickets in a single IPL for Punjab, respectively.

Coming to the match, PBKS won the toss and elected to bat first. A hard-hitting half-century from Prabhsimran Singh (71 in 45 balls, with seven fours and four sixes) and knocks from Rilee Rossouw (49 in 24 balls, with three fours and four sixes) and Atharva Taide (46 in 27 balls, with five fours and two sixes) set the tone for a big total, taking PBKS to 214/5 in their 20 overs.

T Natarajan (2/33) was the pick of the bowlers for SRH.

In the run-chase, after losing Travis Head for a duck, Abhishek Sharma (66 in 28 balls, with five fours and six sixes), Nitish Kumar Reddy (37 in 25 balls, with a four and three sixes) and Heinrich Klaasen (42 in 26 balls, with three fours and two sixes) played fiery knocks to propel SRH to 215/6 in 19.1 overs, winning the game with five balls left.

Arshdeep Singh (2/37) was the pick of the bowlers for PBKS.

Abhishek Sharma was the Player of the Match for his quickfire fifty.

SRH is at number two in the points table, with eight wins, five losses and a no result, with 17 points. PBKS is at the ninth spot with five wins, nine losses and 10 points.

Abhishek Sharma bossed Punjab Kings bowlers with yet another explosive half-century as Sunrisers Hyderabad cruised to a four-wicket win in the IPL in Hyderabad on Sunday. Opting to bat on a flat track, Punjab Kings posted an imposing 214/5 riding on Prabhsimran Singh’s 45-ball 71 and skipper Jitesh Sharma’s final over heroics. But SRH looked in complete control of the tall chase after losing Travis Head off the first ball and chased down the target with five balls to spare.

The win took them second place in the table with 17 points from 14 matches as they would need to wait for the result for the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals.

Rajasthan, who have 16 points, can topple SRH for the prized No 2 spot with a win over KKR in Guwahati.

Finishing inside top-two gives the teams an extra chance of making the final.

Abhishek went about his business with utmost nonchalance for a 21-ball fifty, his third half-century of the season.

He smoked six sixes and five boundaries in his knock of 66 from 28 balls to completely tilt the equation in their favour.

Henrich Klaasen (42) Rahul Tripathi (33) and Nitish Reddy (37) made handy contribution in their complete domination act.

Shashank Singh dismissed Abhishek against the run of play with the batter getting beaten by a slower ball and ended up gifting a catch to Shivam Singh at covers.

But with SRH in top gear at 129/2 at the midway stage, the chase was just a formality and Klaasen continued their strong momentum, slamming three fours and two sixes.

Looking to seal the chase, the South African wicketkeeper-batter was bowled by Harpreet Brar in the final over.

But by then, SRH just needed seven runs from 10 balls and Sanvir Singh sealed the issue with a four in the first ball of the final over.

Earlier Arshdeep gave SRH an early blow, cleaning up the dangerous Travis Head for a golden duck.

After losing a wicket of the first ball, SRH showed little sign of panic with Rahul Tripathi seizing the momentum in a 18-ball 33.

Playing only his second match of the season, Tripathi took Rishi Dhawan to clearners with two fours and one six in a row that set the tone for their tall chase.

Abhishek then came on his own, smashing Arshdeep for two fours and one six as the duo continued their assault dealing only in boundaries to cruise to 50 in four overs.

Harshal Patel leaked 22 runs in his first over but returned with a wicket, dismissing Tripathi with a slower ball.

But with 72/2 in five overs, there was no looking back for SRH when Klaasen came to the party to record their third highest powerplay score of 84/2.

The new look opening pair of Prabhsimran and Vidarbha’s Atharva Taide put on 97 runs from 55 balls as PBKS did well to see through the power play without losing a wicket.

Prabhsimran smashed seven fours and four sixes for his 45-ball 71, while Taide will regret missing out on a fifty after being dismissed for a well-made 46 off just 27 balls.

Taide hit five fours and two sixes and after his departure, Prabhsimran in the company of Rilee Rossouw as the duo put together 54 off 32 balls to keep the momentum going in the middle overs.

It looked a one-way traffic at 151/1 in 14 overs when leg-spinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth (1/37) dismissed the set batter Prabhsimran off a quicker delivery that took a faint edge and Klaasen did well to take a one-handed catch behind the stumps.

Cummins (1/36) ended his spell taking the wicket Rossouw one run shy of a half-century in the 18th over that left two new batters at the crease — Jitesh Sharma and Ashutosh Sharma.

T Natarajan (2/33) then did well to remove the inform Ashutosh in the penultimate over.

PBKS went on to lose four wickets for 44 runs in five overs before the stand-in skipper Jitesh’s last over assault took them to a fighting total.

Jitesh (32*) finished with two sixes against Nitish Kumar Reddy in a 20-run final over.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma celebrates after scoring fifty runs during the Indian Premier League 2024 match against Punjab Kings in Hyderabad on May 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

Brushing aside the first-ball dismissal of the explosive Travis Head, his opening partner Abhishek Sharma showcased an amazing range of stroke-play to ensure Sunrisers Hyderabad finished off its league engagements in style with a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Sunday.

Chasing a victory target of 215, Sunrisers’ batting depth came to the fore, with Rahul Tripathi setting the tone with some brilliant strokes and then Abhishek serving another reminder of his growing stature as a future India star.

The way Abhishek stood up and swung Rishi Dhawan first and later carted spinner Harpreet Brar for two huge sixes was an indication of his authority, class, and timing against pace and spin alike.

Later, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen came up with superbly-paced knocks to help the team’s cause, even as the Punjab bowlers faltered on yet another perfect batting strip.

Great start

Earlier, southpaw Atharva Taide and Prabhsimran Singh ensured a splendid start for Punjab, putting on 97 in 9.1 overs before the former slashed a wide ball from left-arm pacer T. Natarajan straight to the fielder.

The pair batted with great freedom, and the way Atharva straight drove SRH skipper Pat Cummins and later swung Bhuvneshwar Kumar over the fence effortlessly was a treat to watch.

Prabhsimran also showed his class by pulling Cummins to the fence and then whipping the Australian effortlessly over square leg for a six.

The stage was set for the dangerous Rilee Rossouw, and he came good with some lusty blows, with a penchant for the pull stroke. He and Prabhsimran put on 54 for the second wicket before the latter was snapped up brilliantly by wicketkeeper Klaasen off leg-spinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth in the 15th over.

Punjab lost its way in the last five overs, scoring just 55 runs and losing three wickets, including those of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma cheaply.

Captain Jitesh Sharma’s cameo, including two huge sixes off the last two balls of the innings from the most expensive SRH bowler Nitish, boosted the total.

Scoreboard

Punjab Kings: Atharva Taide c Sanvir b Natarajan 46 Prabhsimran Singh c Klaasen b Viyaskanth 71 Rilee Rossouw c Samad b Cummins 49 Shashank Singh run out (Nitish) 2 Jitesh Sharma not out 32 Ashutosh Sharma c Sanvir b Natarajan 2 Shivam Singh not out 2 Extras: 10 (lb-5, w-4, nb-1)

Total: 214/5 in 20 overs

Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-151, 3-174, 4-181, 5-187

Sunriser Hyderabad bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-36-0, Pat Cummins 4-0-36-1, T Natarajan 4-0-33-2, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 4-0-37-1, Shahbaz Ahmed 1-0-13-0, Nitish Reddy 3-0-54-0.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head b Arshdeep 1 Abhishek Sharma c Shivam b Shashank 66 Rahul Tripathi c Arshdeep b Harshal 33 Nitish Reddy c Shivam b Harshal 37 Heinrich Klaasen b Brar 42 Shahbaz Ahmed c Shashank b Harshal 3 Abdul Samad not out 11 Sanvir Singh not out 6 Extras: 17 (lb-6, w-10, nb-1)

Total: 215/6 in 19.1 overs

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-72, 3-129, 4-176, 5-197, 6-208

Punjab Kings bowling: Arshdeep Singh 4-0-37-2, Rishi Dhawan 3-0-35-0, Harshal Patel 4-0-49-2, Rahul Chahar 4-0-43-0, Harpreet Brar 3-0-36-1, Shashank Singh 1-0-5-1, Atharva Taide 0.1-0-4-0.

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings IPL 2024 LIVE Updates© BCCI

File photo of MS Dhoni.© BCCI

Jitesh Sharma in action© BCCI

High on confidence after making their first playoffs in three years, Sunrisers Hyderabad will aim for a second-place finish in the IPL points table when they take on Punjab Kings in their final league game in Hyderabad on May 19.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Sunrisers Hyderabad, which has already qualified for the playoffs, takes on a depleted Punjab Kings in its last IPL league match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on May 19 afternoon.

Sunrisers, with 15 points from 13 outings, should look to claim full points against a team which will not have the services of key players like Sam Curran, who led the team in the absence of injured Shikhar Dhawan, and hard-hitting Jonny Bairstow in what should be yet another good IPL wicket if the weather stays clear.

Importantly, the home side played its last game on May 8 when it drubbed Lucknow Super Giants by 10 wickets and with many players taking a long break, it will be interesting to see how quickly they regain the momentum ahead of the playoffs.

Imposing batters

For most of the league so far, Sunrisers relied heavily on the imposing batting line-up. And, to its delight, the senior pro Bhuvneshwar Kumar was back at his best in the last few games, providing the crucial breakthroughs in the company of captain Pat Cummins and left-armers T. Natarajan and Jaydev Unadkat.

On form, it should be an easy outing for the Cummins’ men against PBKS.

On the other hand, Kings’ pacers Arshdeep Singh, and Harshal Patel — who is the leading wicket-taker with 22 wickets in the IPL this season — hold the key in keeping a check on the run-flow with leggie Rahul Chahar expected to raise the bar.

In batting, Kings badly need the likes of Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, captain Jitesh Sharma, and Ashutosh Sharma to score big for the bowlers to have a go.

Teams (from):

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.

Punjab Kings: Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Jitesh Sharma (c & wk), Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.

Match starts at 3:30pm IST.

Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson wants his team to accept “failures” and urged individuals to raise their hand and display brilliance as the business end of the IPL starts next week. Despite four defeats on trot, Royals, courtesy their superb show during first half of the tourney are on 16 points and through to the play-offs once Delhi Capitals defeated Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday. “To be very honest, we have to sit back and accept that we are going through some failures,” Samson told at post-match presentation ceremony after losing to Punjab Kings by five wickets.

“You have to find out what’s not working well as a team. When you are getting to the business end, we need someone to raise their finger up and say I am going to win the game for the team,” Samson said.

The skipper believes that there is enough talent in the team which can show individual spark under pressure.

“We have the players who can do that if all of us try that. It’s a team sport, but this is the time when we need individual players to step up.” He felt that 144 for 9 was a below-par batting effort.

“We were expecting wicket to be a touch better. I think it’s not a 140-kind of a wicket, we should have got around 160. I think that’s where we lost the game.” With wickets falling at regular intervals, Royals were forced to use Donovan Ferreira as an Impact Sub and missed a bowler.

“Would have been nicer to have one more bowling option, gets a little tough when you have just five. But I am used to it. And we have quality five bowlers.”

Punjab Kings skipper Sam Curran, who also won ‘Player of the Match’ award for his unbeaten 63 runs and two wickets with the ball spoke about the positives from the tournament despite finishing ninth. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the season, thoroughly enjoyed captaining. Quite frustrating to leave, but obviously excited about the World Cup,” said Curran, who won’t play the last game.

“Over the next few seasons, if we can keep some of the really good players, we can go better. Lots of positives. The chase against KKR. Shashank Singh has been amazing, Ashutosh (Sharma) in his debut season. Harshal and Arshdeep have done well as well.”

Yuzvendra Chahal and Trent Boult during RR vs PBKS IPl 2024 match in Guwahati.© X (formerly Twitter)