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The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) clashed in a thrilling encounter on Tuesday at Mullanpur. In a neck-to-neck battle, SRH emerged victorious, edging out PBKS by a mere two runs. SRH set a target of 182 runs, losing nine wickets in 20 overs. PBKS, in response, managed to score only 180 runs, losing six wickets and falling short by just 2 runs of the target.
Nitish Kumar Ready, the young all-rounder of SRH, showcased his mettle and emerged as the hero of the match. Despite a shaky start for Hyderabad, with early wickets falling, Nitish’s resilience and skill turned the tide. In the powerplay, SRH could only manage 40 runs and lost three crucial wickets. However, Nitish’s aggressive batting against the formidable Punjab bowlers changed the game’s dynamics.
After a slow start, Nitish displayed his batting prowess with a blistering innings of 64 runs off just 37 balls at a strike rate of 172.97. His innings, which included 4 fours and 5 sixes, was instrumental in SRH’s victory. This knock, along with the contributory innings of Abdul Samad and Shahbaz Ahmed, propelled SRH to a total of 182 runs.
Abdul Samad lauds Nitish for his match-winning knock
While talking in the post-match presentation, Samad hailed Nitish for his vital innings and said that they (SRH players) had confidence that Nitish would hit big, and he eventually did the same.
“The confidence he had from the last game (where he finished off the match against CSK), we wanted to him to carry it forward. That’s why he was promoted up the order. Everyone had confidence him that he would deliver well in Tuesday’s match,” said Samad in the post-match conference.
Talking further about Nitish’s performance, Samad said that Nitish has completely changed his batting style from last year and has impressed everyone with it.
“Last year, Nitish wasn’t batting like how he did against Punjab in this game. Last year, he was a middle-order batter and played conventional shots. He has now become a completely different batter this time around, and he did prepare really well ahead of this tournament,” the 22-year-old added.
“Even in our practice matches, he was doing well and made a good impact. Everyone has been impressed by him and that’s why he has been backed this season,” Samad stated.
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Samad regrets dropping a catch in the last over
During the last over of the match, when PBKS required 28 runs to win, Ashutosh Sharma hit two consecutive sixes off Jaydev Unadkat, which brought a twist to the game. These two sixes were the result of catch drops near the boundary line. The first catch was dropped by Nitish on the first ball of Unadkat’s over, and Samad dropped the second one on the very next ball.
Addressing this, Samad accepted that their team could have won the match by 15 runs if those two catches were taken; talking further, he even applauded Ashutosh and Shashank Singh for their innings.
“We dropped two catches and they came close otherwise we would have won by 15 runs. Shashank and Ashutosh played really well in the final overs so it was a good contest,” Samad concluded.
