It was a game that went right down to the wire, but Rising Pune Supergiant held their nerve to edge past the Sunrisers and clinch the cliffhanger by 12 runs. Pune posted 148 runs, which seemed a bit short going by the pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and also the firepower of the Hyderabad batting.
Nevertheless, Hyderabad stumbled close to the finishing line and surrendered to the Pune bowlers. It was a magical spell of bowling by Jaydev Unadkat that halted the run flow of the Sunrisers, from which they never recovered. In the process, he dished out the third hat-trick of this season’s Indian Premier League after Andrew Tye and Samuel Badree.
Meanwhile, he also added a unique record to his name. After Lasith Malinga and Badree, he became the third bowler to record a triple-wicket maiden in the Indian Premier League.
A breathtaking comeback after a mediocre start
The left-arm pacer didn’t have a great start to his spell going for 20 runs in his first couple of overs. David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan smashed him to all corners of the ground as Unadkat struggled to hit the right channel.
Nonetheless, he was trusted with taking Pune across the finishing line as he was given the responsibility of bowling the 18th and 20th over. Though Yuvraj Singh wasn’t at his fluent best, there was a sense of calm in the Hyderabad dugout when he was there at the crease. Unadkat came back for his second spell and immediately removed the left-hander.
It was a slower delivery that accounted for Yuvraj as he hit the ball into the hands of Ben Stokes, who charged in from sweeper cover. Later in the over, he scalped the last of the recognised batsmen for the Sunrisers – Naman Ojha – by rolling his fingers over the ball.
The jaw-dropping over
However, the moment of the match came with Sunrisers requiring 13 runs to pull off a victory in the final over. The first delivery was another off-cutter and it missed the swinging blade of Bipul Sharma, who slogged with all his might. The second, third and fourth delivery of the over not only pulled down the curtains on Hyderabad’s chase, but also entered Unadkat into the record books.
The second ball was again a slower cutter by Unadkat and this time Bipul connected but holed out to Stokes. In the next delivery, it was Rashid Khan’s turn to bite the dust as he became Unadkat’s fourth victim, attempting an ugly hoick only to loop it back to the bowler.
With 13 runs to get from three balls, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had to go hell for leather, but Unadkat outfoxed him as well.
Aided by the spell, Pune moved to the second spot on the table with eight wins from 12 games.
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