Sunrisers hold nerve to take top spot

Despite a superb six-wicket haul by leg-spinner Adam Zampa, Rising Pune Supergiants suffered a narrow four-run loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL clash to end their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage, here on Tuesday.

It was the best bowling figures by an Australian in T20s as Zampa claimed six for 19 in his four overs to help Pune restrict Sunrisers to a modest 137 for eight after skipper David Warner elected to bat.

For Hyderabad, Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman bowled with his customary verve and accuracy, contributing to the exciting win by conceding just eight runs in the penultimate over which started with Pune needing 22 off the last two. His wicketless spell keeps him in joint-second place in the wickets chart, but he still added value as his four overs went for just 26 runs and he conceded just one boundary.

In the penultimate over he mixed up his slower balls and quicker deliveries well, so much so that Pune skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni seemed to have decided to play the Fizz out, even with so many runs needed. An example of that was Dhoni hitting a Mustafizur full toss -- a delivery which the expert finisher usually deposits in the stands as he did to Ashish Nehra in the following over -- along the ground to deep cover for two.

Mustafizur's teammates also put in a disciplined effort, led by the veteran seamer Nehra, who claimed three wickets, to restrict Pune to 133 for eight in 20 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Moises Henrique and Barinder Sran also chipped in with a wicket each.

In the end, Pune needed 14 runs off the last over and Dhoni blasted Nehra's fourth ball for a six but he was run out in the next ball. Zampa too was dismissed in the last ball as Pune suffered yet another loss.

With this win Sunrisers reached the top of the points table with 14 points.

SCORES IN BRIEF
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: 137 for 8 in 20 overs (Warner 11, Dhawan 33, Williamson 32, Yuvraj 23, Henriques 10, Hooda 14; Zampa 6-19)
RISING PUNE SUPERGIANTS: 133 for 8 in 20 overs (Khawaja 11, Bailey 34, Ashwin 29, Dhoni 30, Perera 17; Nehra 3-29)    
Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 4 runs.
Player-of-the-match: Adam Zampa.