Tuesday, November 5, 2024

SRH captain Pat Cummins lauds ‘superior’ Nitish Kumar’s all-round heroics

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The previous week has been in contrast to another for 20-year-old Nitish Kumar Reddy. The Andhra allrounder made an unbeaten eight-ball 14 when Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Chennai Tremendous Kings 4 nights in the past. However on Tuesday, he performed an even bigger function – hitting a 37-ball 64 that lifted a floundering Sunrisers innings from 64 for 4 to 182 for 9, which proved to be match-changing.

It wasn’t simply his batting contribution that was key. Nitish, who bowls vigorous medium tempo within the mid-130s, dismissed Jitesh Sharma within the sixteenth over with Punjab Kings searching for a late cost.

Greater than the wicket, it was the way of his setup, of bowling a slower bouncer into the pitch and having Jitesh hack in direction of the longer boundary, that was much more spectacular. Nitish completed with figures of 1 for 33 off three overs. No marvel Pat Cummins, the captain, was extraordinarily delighted with Nitish’s efficiency.

“He was superior,” Cummins stated. “Straight to the highest of the order [in this game], was incredible within the discipline, bowled three overs too. To get us to 180 off his bat, it was superb.”

Nitish himself appears to be a person of few phrases, however appeared happy at with the ability to contribute. It is possible he solely acquired the chance as a result of Sunrisers determined Abhishek Sharma’s kind was too good for him to be batting at No. 3. With Mayank Agarwal sick, Abhishek made a splash in opposition to CSK with a 12-ball 37 to set the tempo of their chase of 166, which they comfortably achieved with 11 balls to spare.

That efficiency could have tempted the staff administration to proceed with Abhishek on the high with Travis Head, paving the way in which for Nitish to maintain his place though Agarwal was dominated match for this match. Nitish repaid the religion with a back-to-the-wall knock through which he hit 4 fours and 5 sixes.

“For me, it’s a huge contribution for my staff and myself,” Nitish stated on the presentation. “I’ve been speaking to myself that I’ve to imagine in myself and that I’ve to be there [for the team]. The seamers had been bowling nicely, so I didn’t need to take them on. When the spinners got here on, I needed to assault them and that’s what I did.”

The sport was rather a lot nearer than it seemed like it will be at one stage. That was all the way down to a slew of catches happening within the demise overs, together with two within the closing over that had been tipped over the ropes for sixes. Needing 29 off the ultimate over bowled by Jaydev Unadkat, Kings fell three quick with Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma giving Sunrisers a mighty scare.

Cummins highlighted Sunrisers’ method as he summed up their tight win. “It was an excellent sport of cricket,” he stated. “They bowled very well in the beginning, we did nicely to get to 182 after which defended it. The great thing about the influence participant is that you just really feel you could have actually deep batting. We attempt to be constructive, to take the sport on.

“Should you get 150-160, you’ll lose 9 out of ten video games anyway. We knew the brand new ball was going to be a key time. We had been fairly completely happy [with our score]. We noticed what occurred with the brand new ball for them, so thought if me and Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] may begin off with a wicket, it will be good. We have now loads of left-armers, right-armers, so simply tried to provide the bowlers the perfect probability of success.”

Shikhar Dhawan, the Kings captain, lamented their top-order meltdown within the powerplay. Kings had been tottering at 20 for 3 within the fifth over with Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh and Dhawan all again within the dug out. That that they had a shot at victory was courtesy a late flourish from Shashank and Ashutosh, who added 66 off simply 27 balls for the seventh wicket.

As the ultimate ball was nailed for a six, Kings could not have helped however look again on the six they conceded off the final ball when Harshal Patel missed a chance on the long-on boundary.

“Shashank and Ashutosh performed nice knocks. I really feel that we saved them to a great complete. Sadly, we couldn’t money in on the primary six overs and that’s the place we misplaced the sport,” Dhawan stated. “That pinched us laborious. The wicket was not providing that a lot bounce so each particular person has to give you higher plans.

“We may have stopped 10-15 runs extra and that made a distinction as nicely. As a batting unit, we didn’t carry out. It’s important for the highest order to carry out. Shashank and Ashutosh’s efficiency offers us confidence and hope for the subsequent sport. We have now to do higher in sure areas and enhance.”

Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo


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