5 pivotal moments from the nail-biter between PBKS and SRH

Arshdeep returns back to form

An important performance for the left-arm seamer before the T20 World Cup. Arshdeep struggled in the first four games of the season, taking four wickets @ 32.8 and an economy of 9.1, but returned to form against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9 (Tuesday).   

Arshdeep dismissed Travis Head and Aiden Markram in the powerplay by bowling those typical Test lengths and then came back to get rid of Abdul Samad and Nitish Reddy at the end. 

The latter two were hitting the ball well but Arshdeep got them by bowling those wide deliveries outside off. He eventually finished with figures of 4/29 - his third four-wicket haul in the IPL.

Nitish Reddy makes a mark

The 20-year-old had something over 100 runs at a strike rate of 101.92 in T20s before this innings. He slammed 64 off 37 deliveries, which came after PBKS were reduced to 39/3 inside the powerplay. 

The right-hander took his time and was on 14 off 18 at one stage. Nitish then hit Harpreet Brar for a four and a six and never looked back thereafter. In his next 19 balls, he smashed 50 runs, studded with four fours and five maximums. 

Most of his runs in his maiden T20 fifty came through the leg side, as you could see in the above wagon wheel.

Rough outing for Brar

Harpreet Brar finished with figures of 0/48 - his most expensive spell in the IPL. The left-arm spinner conceded only 11 runs in his first two overs before being ripped apart by Nitish Reddy. 

Brar went for 37 runs in his last two overs, getting whacked for four fours and three sixes. Of the 48 runs he conceded, 38 came off Nitish’s bat from just 16 balls.

Lowest powerplay score this season

There was enough movement in the powerplay, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pat Cummins made the most of it in the second innings. The latter got the first wicket, knocking over Jonny Bairstow in the second over.

Bhuvneshwar then dismissed Prabhsimran Singh and Shikhar Dhawan, with the latter getting stumped, to reduce PBKS to 20/3. Punjab ended the powerplay with 27/3 on the board - the lowest powerplay total this season.

Shashank, Ashutosh almost do the unthinkable, once again

Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma added 43 off 22 in the previous game against Gujarat Titans and propelled Punjab to a stunning victory. Those knocks came out of nowhere, so everyone must have felt it was like a one-match thing. But Shashank and Ashutosh almost repeated the same against Hyderabad.

This task was a lot tougher, with 67 needed off the final four overs. Shashank first hit Bhuvneshwar for three fours in an over before Ashutosh got a couple of boundaries off Cummins. T Natarajan gave 10 in the penultimate over, leaving 29 for Jaydev Unadkat’s final over. Ashutosh and Shashank got 26 runs off it, falling short by just two runs.