Three sixes. Three dropped catches. Three wides. 26 runs. Jaydev Unadkat was tasked to defend 29 runs in the final over against Punjab Kings in an IPL 2024 match on Tuesday night and he just about managed to do so despite Sunrisers Hyderabad fielders turning their collective backs on him with the visitors securing a narrow two-run win.
The duo of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma came close to replicating their combined heroics that saw them guiding PBKS to a thrilling three-wicket win over Gujarat Titans last week.
Shashank and Ashutosh came together when PBKS needed 69 off 27 deliveries. Shashank led the first wave of attack as he struck three fours in the 17th over, bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar from which the hosts took 17 runs.
And then Ashutosh waded into SRH captain Pat Cummins with three fours of his own followed by a fairly decent 19th over, bowled by T Natarajan that left PBKS 29 to win from six deliveries.
Ashutosh pulled the first delivery of the final over towards midwicket and Nitish Reddy ended up palming the ball over the boundary for a six. Unadkat responded with two wides in a row before Ashutosh was given another reprieve as this time Abdul Samad parried the ball over the ropes for a six.
Ashutosh was given a third life in the over when Rahul Tripathi failed to held onto a regulation catch at deep midwicket but that only cost SRH one run. And by then it was all but over for PBKS as they needed 9 runs off the final delivery which Ashutosh launched over long-off for a six.
PBKS lost their top-three batters inside the first five overs and were playing catch up by the time Sikandar Raza departed leaving them five down for 91in 13.1 overs.