On April 9th, at the newly inaugurated Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) faced off against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a gripping encounter, marking the 23rd match of IPL 2024.

Shikhar Dhawan, leading the home team, won the toss and elected to field first. Arshdeep Singh made an impactful start by claiming the wickets of Travis Head (21) and Aiden Markram (0) early on. SRH found themselves struggling at 39/3 and 64/4 by the 10th over.

However, in the latter half of the innings, Nitish Kumar Reddy (64 runs off 37 balls), Abdul Samad (12), and other contributors propelled SRH to a total of 182/9 in their allotted 20 overs. Arshdeep Singh starred with figures of 4/29, supported by Sam Curran and Harshal Patel, who both picked up two wickets each.

PBKS began their innings on a shaky note, as Jonny Bairstow fell for a duck to Pat Cummins, while Prabhsimran Singh and Shikhar Dhawan (14) were both dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Sam Curran attempted to counterattack the SRH bowlers, contributing 29 runs with two boundaries and two sixes before losing his wicket.

Towards the conclusion, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma once again attempted to turn the tide in PBKS’s favor. The duo formed a partnership of 66 runs off 27 balls for the 7th wicket, coming close to snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Ashutosh scored an unbeaten 33 runs from 15 balls, while Shashank remained not out with 46 runs from 25 balls. The duo nearly succeeded in chasing down the target, requiring 29 runs from the last over delivered by Jaydev Unadkat. Despite hitting three sixes amidst three dropped catches, the target proved insurmountable.

PBKS concluded their innings at 180/6, falling short by a mere 2 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed figures of 2/32 for SRH, while Nitish Reddy impressed with 1/33. With this victory, SRH ascended to the 5th position in the IPL 2024 points table, while PBKS descended to the 6th position.

Nitish Reddy received the Player of the Match award for his exceptional performance with both bat and ball.

The cricket community expressed astonishment as the match unfolded dramatically until the very end, lauding the efforts of both SRH and PBKS players on various social media platforms.