IPL 2016: Zampa's six-for goes in vain as Hyderabad beat Pune in a nail-biter

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 137/8 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 33(27), Kane Williamson 32(37); Adam Zampa 6/19, Ravichandran Ashwin 1/16) won against Rising Pune Supergiants 133/8 in 20 overs (George Bailey 34(40), MS Dhoni 30(20); Ashish Nehra 3/29, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/20)

1. Sluggish start for Hyderabad

Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan formed a solid 46-run partnership, but that took a total of seven overs. The duo failed to find the boundaries with any regularity and as the spinners came into the bowling attack, runs dried out even further. Even the usually belligerent Yuvraj Singh batted at a strike rate of 109.52 as Ravichandran Ashwin tied knots around the batsmen, finishing with an economy of 4.

2. Splendid Zampa

Despite the slow run rate, Hyderabad had wickets in hand and thus, a cushion to accelerate at the end. However, Zampa had other ideas. He dismissed Yuvraj with a googly, Williamson with a tossed up wide delivery, Moises Henriques with a ball which drifted into the batsman before spinning away, Ojha with another floating delivery outside the off-stump, knocked down Naman Ojha's stumps and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with another beautifully flighted ball. With those heroics, Zampa not only put Pune in a commanding position but also became the second bowler after Sohail Tanvir to pick up six wickets in an innings as Hyderabad stumbled to a lowly score of 137/8.

3. George's night out

However, an unconventional pair in George Bailey and Ashwin came to their rescue. Bailey does not have the most impressive record as a batsman in IPL, however, lady luck was definitely smiling on him tonight. When he was batting at seven, Bhuveneshwar Kumar produced another of his unplayable out-swingers and Bailey nicked it behind to the wicket-keeper. It was a big nick as well, however, incredibly the umpire remained unaffected by all the appeals.

In the 11th over, Bailey misjudged a run and when Yuvraj Singh's throw reached the BarinderSran at the bowler's end, the Aussie had barely crossed the middle of the pitch. However, Sran failed to collect the throw and Bailey survived again. In the 12th over, he was eventually dismissed by Henriques, but he had already formed a 49-run partnership with Ashwin by then.

A lot of eyebrows were raised when Ashwin was promoted up the batting order by Dhoni, ahead of himself, Saurabh Tiwary, and Thisara Perera. The Indian international did reward Dhoni's faith with his highest ever score in the IPL—29. However, he did not get them quickly enough, and the required run rate rose promptly.

When Pune required 37 runs off the last three overs with 5 wickets in hand, it seemed like Pune had left themselves with too much in the end, especially with Mustafizur Rahman still having one over left. Dhoni and Perera managed only 8 runs off the 19th over, bowled by Mustafizur, and were left to get 14 runs off the last over from Nehra.