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On the back of a stupendous final over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) registered a thrilling one-run win against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Thursday (May 2).
The Royals dominated the majority of the run chase but Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar showed their class in the last two overs, orchestrating an unlikely victory for Sunrisers. This was not the first time, the swing master showed his class in the death overs.
Sunrisers were rocked early after batting first but made a remarkable comeback to post a strong total on the board. Nitish Kumar Reddy (76*) and Travis Head (58*) stitched a crucial 96-run partnership to lead the fight back before Heinrich Klaasen smashed a 19-ball 42* to propel SRH to 201.
Bhuvneshwar was at his vintage best in the opening over and prized out Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson to put Rajasthan in a whole heap of pressure. However, it was the young duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal (67) and Riyan Parag (77) who brought them back into the game with a superb 134-run partnership.
However, both the set batters were dismissed with Rajasthan on the threshold of chasing the total down. Some lusty blows from Rovman Powell and Shimron Hetmyer took them close but in the end, it was the brilliance of Bhuvneshwar Kumar which handed SRH a memorable victory.
Having said that, let us have a look at three occasions when Bhuvneshwar Kumar successfully won SRH a thriller off the final ball:
#3 SRH vs RCB, IPL 2018
Back in 2018, Bhuvneshwar Kumar defended 11 off the final over to help the Sunrisers Hyderabad win a nail-biting thriller against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). With Colin de Grandhomme and Mandeep Singh on strike for the final over, Bhuvneshwar trusted his yorkers and kept nailing one after the other.
The first two deliveries were yorkers before he shifted to a slower length delivery but none of the two batters could get the boundaries going. Grandhomme was castled on the final delivery of the match as Hyderabad went on to seal a five-run victory.
On the back of a superb knock from Kane Williamson (56), Sunrisers managed to post a competitive 146 on the board. None of the RCB batters could get any sort of momentum to their innings and eventually succumbed to a narrow defeat.
#2 SRH vs RCB, IPL 2021
In a repeat of 2018, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled another match-winning final over for the Sunrisers against the same opposition in 2021. With 13 needed off the final over, Bhuvneshwar held his nerves against AB de Villiers and George Garton to seal a four-run win for SRH.
Bhuvneshwar started off with a slower one before Garton dug out the second delivery to give the strike back to AB de Villiers. Mr. 360 missed the next delivery but deposited the fourth one into the stands to make the equation to six required off two balls.
Bhuvneshwar then went back to his wide yorkers and despite bowling a full toss, ABD couldn't quite connect as SRH snatched a memorable victory. Jason Roy (44) and Kane Williamson (31) helped Sunrisers to post 141 on the board, which proved to be just enough.
#1 SRH vs RR, IPL 2024
When Bhuvneshwar came to bowl the final over on Thursday (May 2), RR required 13 runs, with Ravichandran Ashwin and Rovman Powell at crease for RR. In the first ball, Ashwin gave the strike back to Powell, who managed to take a couple of runs before sweeping an overpitched delivery over fine leg for a boundary.
He took a couple of runs each on fourth and the fifth delivery to bring down the equation to 2 required off the final ball. Bhuvneshwar went to dart a yorker again, but it ended up as a low swinging full toss. However, Rovman failed to connect and the umpire raised his finger to hand the Sunrisers a come-from-behind victory.
