Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins hailed rookie player Nitish Kumar Reddy for his all-round performance after nail-biting one-run win against table-leaders Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Thursday.
After electing to bat first, SRH got off to a sedate start, managing 37-2 in the Powerplay overs. Reddy also took his time in the initial phase of his innings, scoring five of the first 10 balls he faced.
However, the right-hander was able to change gears in the middle overs and completed his fifty off just 30 balls, scoring the next 45 runs off 20 balls. Reddy smashed three fours and eight maximums as he went on to score 76 off 42 balls.
Furthermore, SRH scored 70 runs in the last five overs at an impressive run rate of 14 with Heinrich Klaasen adding the finishing touches with 19-ball 42 to post 201 runs on the board.
Pat Cummins said in the post-match presentation, “He (Nitish Reddy) sums up the conditions pretty well, he’s amazing, great in the field, gives some overs with the ball as well.”
Cummins also lauded Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T. Natarajan for getting the job done. Kumar was able to defend 13 runs in the last over and plumbed Rovman Powell in front of the wickets when two runs were needed on the final ball.
Cummins added, “I am good, was an amazing game. That’s T20 cricket. Anything can happen, Bhuvi executed that last ball. You try to take some wickets in the middle. Natarajan is a good yorker bowler, fortunately we got some wickets. Played some games here, thought 200 could have been chased down.”
Sunrisers Hyderabad will next take on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday.