Pushed to the wall, the hosts struggled to reach 50 off 9.3 overs before Head hit two sixes and a four off Yuzvendra Chahal
SRH’s Nitish Reddy celebrates his half-century yesterday. Pic/PTI
Promising Andhra all-rounder Nitish Reddy stole the show in the first session as he lifted Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to 201-3 against table-toppers Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday. There was a touch of power, class and timing in Reddy’s eye-catching 42-ball 76 not out (3x4. 8x6). “I backed myself,’’ he said after his innings.
There was a huge roar from the crowd when SRH skipper Pat Cummins won the toss, but there was pin-drop silence when RR captured two wickets by the end of the Powerplay. SRH openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma (12) could not get off to their now-familiar blazing starts as seasoned left-arm seamer Trent Boult and off-spinner R Ashwin did not give them the liberty to swing their bats freely in the first four overs.
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Early collapse
A desperate Abhishek succumbed to Avesh Khan’s first ball and then Anmolpreet Singh fell to wily swing bowler Sandeep Sharma’s first delivery in the next over. SRH could manage only 37 in the first six.
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Pushed to the wall, the hosts struggled to reach 50 off 9.3 overs before Head hit two sixes and a four off Yuzvendra Chahal. Showing some amazing flair, Reddy then carted two sixes and two fours off Chahal as the leg-spinner had an off day, conceding as many as 21 runs in his third over. Nitish hit clean and hard to get five sixes, including one off the miserly Sandeep, before he got to his second half-century of the season.
At the time of going to press, RR were 100-2 in 10 overs. Earlier, the impressive Reddy dominated the third wicket stand of 96 runs with Head (44-ball 58), who preferred to play second fiddle to his junior partner. The Aussie, who had a lucky reprieve off the first ball of the day when his cut shot burst through Riyan Parag’s hands at backward point, was again fortunate when a Samson throw caught him napping with his bat in the air, but the third umpire came to his rescue. However, Head went for a wild shot and was bowled as Avesh picked his second wicket.
Reddy, who has a good bat swing, was relentless though. He hit Ashwin for two more sixes after which Heinrich Klaasen slammed Chahal for two successive sixes. The leg-spinner finished with his most expensive IPL figures of 4-0-62-0.
Klaasen’s quickfire knock
Klaasen’s blitzkrieg and Reddy punished the RR bowlers in their 32-ball 70-run stand to give SRH a challenging 201. Klaasen (42 not out off 19 balls) has clobbered 31 sixes this IPL.
Brief scores
SRH 201-3 in 20 overs (N Reddy 76*, T Head 58, H Klaasen 42*; A Khan 2-39) v RR (scores incomplete)
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