Zampa six-for in vain as Hyderabad drive Pune to elimination
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It was the best bowling figures by an Australian in T20s as Zampa claimed six for 19 in his four overs to help Pune restrict Sunrisers for a modest 137 for 8 after skipper David Warner elected to bat.
However, the Supergiants could not script a successful run chase as Sunrisers dished out a disciplined bowling effort, led by the veteran seamer Ashish Nehra, who claimed three wickets, to restrict Pune to 133-8 in 20 overs.
For Sunrisers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/20), Moises Henrique (1/20) and Barinder Sran (1/26) also chipped in with one wicket each. With this win, Sunrisers reached the top of the points table with 14 points, while Pune sunk to the seventh spot with six points after their eight defeat in 11 matches.
Chasing 138 to win, Pune were dealt a severe blow only in the third ball of the innings when seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed opener Ajinkya Rahane (0) with Naman Ojha taking the catch, in a maiden over.
Rahane has been their top-scorer and his dismissal early on put the pressure on the top-order as Usman Khawaja too was run-out in fourth over by Hooda when the opener was trying to steal a second run.
George Bailey (34) and R Ashwin (29), who was promoted up the order, then added 49 off 48 balls and brought up the fifty in the 10 over.
Ashwin blasted a couple of fours in the next two overs but Bailey's miscued shot ended in the hands of Ashish Nehra as Pune slipped to 68-3.
Ashwin picked up another four in the 13th over but a brilliant catch by Ojha in the next over off Barinder Sran cut shot his innings. Nehra then dismissed Saurabh Tiwary (9) in the 15th over after being hit for a boundary. It was a miscued pull shot which ended up as a simple catch for Dhawan.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30) then blasted a six over long-off to ease the pressure, before picking up the 100 for his team with a single in the 17th over. In the end, Pune needed 14 runs off the last over and Dhoni blasted Nehra's fourth ball for a six but he was run-out in the next ball. Zampa too was dismissed in the last ball as Pune suffered yet another loss.
