Sunrisers Hyderabad clinched their eighth win of IPL 2024, defeating the Punjab Kings by four wickets. They now stand second in the points table and await the result of the evening game to determine their playoff position, while the Punjab Kings finish ninth with five wins.
Sunrisers Hyderabad secured their eighth victory of the IPL 2024 season by defeating the Punjab Kings by four wickets. Another victory which comes at home, this win will give them immense confidence ahead of the all-important play offs. They have now advanced to the second position in the points table and are awaiting the outcome of the evening match to determine their playoff fate. Meanwhile, the Punjab Kings were soundly defeated by the Orange Army, finishing ninth in the standings with only five wins.
SRH IN TOP 2 IN THE POINTS TABLE. 💥 pic.twitter.com/4GGgT5eg3r
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra)The Sunrisers Hyderabad had a shaky start to their innings, losing in-form Travis Head to a golden duck on the very first ball of the chase. Rahul Tripathi then came in aggressively, partnering with Abhishek Sharma to score briskly. Together, they added 72 runs for the second wicket before Tripathi was dismissed for 33. By the end of the powerplay, the scorecard read 84/2.
Abhishek continued his onslaught, reaching his fifty off just 21 balls. Nitish Reddy, batting at number four, also played some wonderful strokes to keep the Kings at bay. Abhishek eventually departed after scoring 66 off 28 balls, and Heinrich Klaasen joined Reddy at the crease to control the required run rate.
Harshal Patel broke the partnership by dismissing Reddy for 37 runs. Klaasen played some exquisite strokes and ensured no more hiccups in the chase, though he got cleaned up on 42 with SRH needing seven runs to win. Abdul Samad (11*) and Sanvir Singh (6*) remained unbeaten to guide their side home with five balls to spare. Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel took two wickets each for the Kings, but it wasn’t enough as they failed to defend the total.
Earlier, the Punjab Kings won the toss and chose to bat first. They had a strong start with Atharva Taide and Prabhsimran Singh playing fantastic shots. They scored 61 in the powerplay. Taide was dismissed for 46 in the 10th over, ending their 97-run partnership.
Prabhsimran continued strongly, scoring a well-composed fifty, supported by Rilee Rossouw. They added 54 runs for the second wicket before Prabhsimran fell for 71. Rossouw missed his fifty by a single run. The Kings lost momentum after Rossouw's departure, but stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma provided a perfect finish, scoring an unbeaten 32 off 15 balls to take his side to 214/5.
T Natarajan took two wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad, conceding 33 runs in his four overs. Pat Cummins and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth also took a wicket each but were expensive. The Sunrisers' batsmen then contributed to chase down the total with four wickets in hand.