Abdul Samad struck again after a no-ball call, hitting a six off the final ball as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in a dramatic match in the Indian Premier League on Sunday. Chasing a target of 215, SRH needed 17 runs in the final over bowled by Sandeep Sharma with Samad and Marco Jansen at the crease. The drama unfolded when Samad hit a six off the second ball to leave the equation at five off the last ball. Everyone thought that Jos Buttler got Samad out by taking a catch near the boundary, but the umpire called for a single ball and the last ball was bowled again.
SRH needed four runs for a win but Samad (17 not out) then dispatched Sharma’s delivery for a six to reach 217 for six and pull off one of the most improbable wins in the IPL. Due to which the players of RR were surprised.
Number six batsman Glenn Phillips (25 off 7 balls) also played his part in turning around SRH’s fortunes as they needed 69 runs from the last five overs though with eight wickets in hand.
Phillips raised hopes of a spectacular win by hitting inexperienced fast bowler Kuldeep Yadav for three consecutive sixes and a four in the final over.
Ultimately, a fine effort from RR spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4/29) went in vain, though at one stage it looked like a comfortable win for RR.
SRH began the run chase on a cautious note as the powerplay overs lacked fireworks, at the end of which they were 52 for 1, with impressive player Anmolpreet Singh Chahal becoming the first victim.
Ravichandran Ashwin (4-0-35-1) also kept things tight and SRH batsmen found it difficult to hit boundaries.
At the halfway stage, SRH were 87/1, requiring 128 from the back end and a rate close to 13 an over.
Abhishek Sharma (55) fell after hitting Ashwin for a second six in the 13th over and India’s premier spinner had the last laugh.
In the next over, Rahul Tripathi hit a four and two sixes to collect 19 runs from Murugan Ashwin.
Heinrich Klaasen, who had earlier hit a four and a six, then gave some worry to the RR camp with a six and a four off Chahal in the 16th over, before taking the fifth ball of that over for a well-timed duck with Jos Buttler. Caught by. At long off.
Earlier, the Royals posted 214 for 2, thanks to England opener Jos Buttler’s 95 and skipper Samson’s unbeaten 66.
After a 54-run partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal (35), Butler (95 off 59 balls) shared a 138-run partnership with Samson (66 not out) in 13.3 overs to take the Royals to a big score.
Buttler missed out on a well-deserved century as he was dismissed five runs short. He hit 10 fours and four sixes during his quick innings.
Samson hit four fours and five sixes in his 38-ball unbeaten innings.
SRH bowlers looked bloodied throughout the innings and all went for runs.
The Royals got off to a promising start, reaching 61 for one at the end of the powerplay, thanks to a blistering 35 off just 18 balls from the talented Jaiswal, who continued his fine form to reach 1000 IPL runs this season .
The youngster also hit Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-44-1) and Marco Jansen (4-0-44-1) for five fours as well, but was easily dismissed by the latter in the fifth over.
Johnson took extra bounce from the slower bowler and Jaiswal easily caught the ball at the hands of T Natarajan.
The tempo continued as the home side were 107 for 1 at the halfway stage, with a one-down Samson punishing the SRH bowlers and scoring his first half-century in six matches.
Samson targeted Mayank Markande for special treatment as he hit Mayank Markande for three sixes in the ninth over to score 21 runs.
Buttler, who had been relatively calm in the early part of his innings, began to open his arms after settling down well.
The Buttler-Samson pair kept the run-rate above 10 runs per over at all times, reaching 150 in the 15th over as SRH bowlers became increasingly clueless about breaking the partnership.
The Royals duo continued to hit sixes in every over as they launched the SRH bowlers after laying a strong foundation. Royals added 60 runs in the last five overs.
Samson hit two more sixes off Markande in the 16th over and then completed his third half-century off 33 balls in the 18th over.
Buttler was dismissed five short of a hundred and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got his wicket after review.
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