Sandeep Sharma’s last-ball wicket turned into a no-ball (called belatedly by the third umpire), and Abdul Samad smoked a straight six off the free hit to get Sunrisers Hyderabad the four more runs they needed, sparking wild celebrations in the orange camp while the players and home fans in pink were left speechless. This happened just as Rajasthan Royals thought they had collected two points by defending 214 and had started to celebrate.
Nearly the whole chase, Royals led Sunrisers by a significant margin, with the asking rate increasing and wickets falling often in the closing stages. But Sunrisers persisted in retaliating with powerful blows. The largest reversal occurred when Glenn Phillips, who replaced Harry Brook, hammered three sixes and a four to reduce it to 19 off eight when they needed 41 off 12. After falling on the following ball, the chase changed once more, and with Samad on strike, they needed 17 runs from the final over to win.
Samad came very close to being caught twice in two balls. He was first dropped by Obed McCoy at short third, which allowed two runs to score, and then he smashed a six that just eluded Joe Root’s fingertips at long-on. With just five needed to win off the next ball and Samad finding long-on while attempting another straight six, Sandeep’s near-yorkers gave up just four of the following three, and he hoisted his finger in delight. However, those grins soon faded since Sandeep had overstepped, and when he re-bowled the final ball—another attempted yorker—the length was slightly off, and Samad finished off Sunrisers’ heist with a successful straight six over the bowler’s head.
SRH (seemingly) leave too much too late
The asking rate increased to almost 12 shortly after the powerplay ended, but Rahul Tripathi and Abhishek didn’t begin their massive innings until they required 142 runs from 11 overs. Abhishek scored sixes off both M. Ashwin and Tripathi before edging to short third for 55 and attempting another big shot. Tripathi began the innings with a six against M. Ashwin.
Samson gave M. Ashwin a third over even though his first two went for 23, and even though there were alternative bowling choices available, and he leaked another 19, which kept Sunrisers in the game with Heinrich Klaasen moved up to No. 4 with the equation at 98 off 42.