SunRisers Hyderabad on Thursday held their nerve till the end to register a 1-run win over Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2024. RR needed 133 off the last six balls but fell short by just 1 run with Rovman Powell getting LBW off the last ball by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. SRH batted first and put up 201/3 in 20 overs while RR managed 200/7. The match also saw a controversial moment, which had the usually calm Kumar Sangakkara get into an animated chat with the umpire.
It happened in the 15th over as with Avesh Khan bowling to Travis Head. Against a fullish delivery outside off, Head shuffled across and chased the ball. He lost balance in the process. Samson threw the ball in the stumps' direction. Replays showed that it was ambiguous, though the TV umpire Rohan Pandit gave it not out.
Irfan Pathan called the decision "horrible". "Horrible decision again from their umpire. There were two more frames to see. Head's bat was in the air," he wrote on x.
On the next ball however, Head got bowled. "That is called Karma. Karma strikes," said Sunil Gavaskar on air during commentary.
Talking about the match, Bhuvneshwar Kumar did the star turn with a sensational final over as Sunrisers Hyderabad pulled off a heist, stunning Rajasthan Royals by just one run in a last-ball thriller to keep their IPL playoff hopes alive on Thursday. Needing two to win off the last delivery, Bhuvneshwar (3/41) trapped Rovman Powell (27) with a full toss to leave RR stranded at 200 for seven while chasing a target of 202.
Opting to bat, Nitish Reddy (76 not out) and Travis Head (58) produced explosive fifties, while Heinrich Klassen made an unbeaten 19-ball 42 to power Sunrisers Hyderabad to 201 for three.
Things were looking up when Bhuvneshwar removed Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson for ducks in the opening over to leave RR at 1 for 2.
However, youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal (67) and Riyan Parag (77) came up with counterattacking fifties on way to a massive 134-run partnership to lay the foundation of the runchase.
But once the duo was back in the hut, Shimron Hetmyar (13) hit a four and a six as it seemed like a regulation chase but T Natarajan got rid off Hetmyar, who perished at long-on and then skipper Pat Cummins removed Dhruv Jurel, who was caught at deep square leg in the 19th over.
The sudden loss of wickets gave SRH hope of a turnaround but Powell produced a six in the last ball of the 19th over to bring the equation down to 13 off six balls.
The West Indian kept a calm head to bring it down to 2 off the last ball but Bhuvneshwar denied him the glory.
With PTI inputs