Suryakumar Yadav was left impressed with the performance of Punjab Kings players– Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma- in their last Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday, April 9.
The PBKS duo showcased their class after their team faced a collapse while chasing a target of 183. Shashank and Ashutosh joined hands when PBKS were reeling at 114 at the loss of six wickets and stitched a quickfire 66-run partnership. Their efforts, however, went in vain as the Punjab-based franchise ultimately fell two runs short of the total.
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Suryakumar Yadav, though, reckoned the duo had enough reasons to feel proud. The Indian batter shared a picture of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma on Instagram and wrote, “You both can be very proud of yourselves.”
SRH had batted first in that game and their top order surrendered early in front of Arshdeep Singh, who registered a four-wicket haul. Nitish Kumar Reddy then took over the charge for SRH. Despite getting a little support from his teammates, the 20-year-old slammed his maiden IPL half-century. His blistering 64-run knock comprised four boundaries and five sixes. Among the other SRH batters, Abdul Samad chipped in with a 25-run cameo, helping his team breach the 180-run mark. For PBKS, Harshal Patel and Harpreet Brar also enjoyed a good outing and picked up two wickets each.
Similar to the first innings, the pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium assisted the fast bowlers during the run chase as PBKS also lost a few early wickets. When their captain Shikhar Dhawan left for the pavilion, they were reeling at 20/3. Sam Curran and Sikandar Raza made some efforts, contributing with 29 and 28 runs respectively.
Following the fifth wicket, Shashank Singh arrived at the crease and joined hands with Jitesh Sharma, who also failed to survive long. That is when the partnership between Shashank and Ashutosh Sharma began. The duo went all guns blazing, bringing their team back to the contest.
In the final over, PBKS needed 29 runs and SRH captain Pat Cummins bestowed the responsibility upon Jaydev Unadkat. Ashutosh Sharma slammed two sixes in that over but failed to guide his team to a triumph. Shashank Singh remained unbeaten on 46 while Ashutosh scored 33 runs off 15 balls.
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