Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) registered a thrilling four-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 52 of IPL 2023 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Sunday (May 7).
Opting to bat first, the hosts piled up a massive 214/2 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of Jos Buttler’s 59-ball 95 and skipper Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 66 off 38 balls.
In reply, SRH got off to a decent start as the duo of Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh added 51 runs for the opening wicket. While Anmolpreet got out after scoring 25-ball 33, Abhishek went on to slam a half-century and put on 65 runs for the second wicket with Rahul Tripathi.
After Abhishek’s dismissal on 55 from 34 balls, Tripathi (47 off 29) stitched a 41-run partnership with Heinrich Klaasen (26 off 12) to keep the Sunrisers in the chase. However, Klaasen’s wicket triggered a little collapse as SRH slumped to 174/5. Amid the pressure situation, Glenn Phillips produced a stunning cameo of 7-ball 25 to bring the visitors back into the contest.
While Phillips got out in the penultimate over after smashing Kuldip Yadav for three sixes and a boundary, he made the equation achievable for the Hyderabad-based franchise as they needed 17 off the last over.
Sandeep Sharma was tasked to defend the runs in the final over while Abdul Samad and Marco Jansen were at the crease for SRH. Samad hit the first delivery for a couple, followed by a six and another two before he took a single on the fourth ball.
Jansen managed to take a single on the penultimate delivery to bring Samad back on strike. With five needed off the final ball, Sandeep ended up bowling a no-ball and Abdul Samad (17* off 7) made the most of free-hit, smashing it for a six to seal the deal for SRH.
Cricket experts were left speechless by the last-over thriller between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Here’s how they reacted on Twitter:
