NEW DELHI:
Abhishek Sharma
dominated the Punjab Kings bowlers with another explosive half-century as Sunrisers Hyderabad secured a four-wicket win in the IPL on Sunday.
Electing to bat on a flat track, Punjab Kings posted an imposing 214/5, powered by Prabhsimran Singh's 45-ball 71 and skipper Jitesh Sharma's final over heroics.
Despite losing Travis Head on the first ball, SRH maintained complete control of the tall chase, achieving the target with five balls to spare.
This victory elevated SRH to second place in the table with 17 points from 14 matches, as they awaited the result of the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals.
Rajasthan, with 16 points, can overtake SRH for the coveted No. 2 spot with a win over KKR in Guwahati.
Finishing in the top two provides teams with an extra chance to reach 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; 26 balls) Rahul Tripathi (33; 18b) and Nitish Reddy (37; 25b) 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 not out from 15 balls; 2x4, 2x6) finished with two sixes against Nitish Kumar Reddy in a 20-run final over.
(With inputs from PTI)
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