Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) edged past Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) to take the top spot in IPL 2016 points table. With this win, they are just one match away from sealing a place in the playoffs.
The match went right down to the wire, with SRH defeating RPS by 4 runs. This was MS Dhoni & co.'s eighth defeat of the season and they are virtually out playoff contention in IPL 2016.
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers were pumped up right from the start of the second innings, after their batsmen only managed 137. They knew that the pitch was going to assist them and all the bowlers made full use of the conditions.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck very early during the run chase as he removed the in-form Ajinkya Rahane in the third ball of the innings. Usman Khawaja also did not last long in the middle as he was run out after scoring just 11 runs.
R Ashwin was promoted to bat up the order at No.4. That decision raised a lot of eyebrows but Dhoni, as usual was spot on with the call. Ashwin and George Bailey steadied the ship and added 49 runs together.
Bailey can consider himself to be lucky as he was not given out when he edged the ball to the keeper but, much to his delight, the umpire denied the bowler's appeal. He also survived a run out. In this tricky run chase, the Aussie batsman scored 34 runs.
MS Dhoni and Thisara Perera built a good partnership towards the end. Both the batsmen tried really hard to get their side over the line. But the experienced Ashish Nehra removed both batsmen in the last over of the innings, when the Supergiants needed 14 from the last six balls.
Adam Zampa had to hit the last ball for a boundary to take the game into the Super Over. Zampa edged the ball but Naman Ojha took a brilliant diving catch to seal a win for his side.
Here is the updated IPL 2016 points table.
Earlier, David Warner won the toss and chose to bat first on a wicket that looked to be tricky right from the start. The bowlers were able to swing the ball and they were also getting it to move after hitting the deck.
Sunrisers got off to a slow start. RP Singh picked up the all-important wicket of Warner early on in the innings. Getting Warner out early gave the Supergiants bowlers an edge over the SRH batsmen. They maintained the pressure throughout the Powerplay overs.
SRH could only manage 34 runs for the loss of one wicket in their first six overs. But Shikhar Dhawan started to make a move and put his feet on the accelerator. Dhawan was the top scorer of the Sunrisers innings with 33 runs from 27 balls.
Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh also contributed with the bat. A few meaty blows towards the end from Deepak Hooda helped Sunrisers to post a total of 137 for the loss of eight wickets at the end of 20 overs.
Adam Zampa was the star of the show as he added six scalps to his name. His figures read 4-0-19-6. Zampa removed Yuvraj, Williamson, Hooda, Naman Ojha, Moises Henriques and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Ashok Dinda also bowled well with the new ball.
Click here to see how Twitter reacted after Adam Zampa's six-wicket haul.
