With Hyderabad needing 17 off the final over, Samad was dropped off fast bowler Sandeep Sharma’s first ball. Samad was caught off the sixth delivery but it turned out to be a no ball, which abruptly cut short Rajasthan’s victory celebrations.
With four needed to win on the final ball, and three to take the game into the super over, Hyderabad had the last laugh as Samad smashed a straight six in his seven-ball 17.
Hyderabad had slipped to 174-5 when New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips turned the game on its head with a seven-ball 25 that infused life into the chase.
Phillips smashed left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav for three sixes and a four before he was caught by Shimron Hetmyer off the fifth ball of the penultimate over.
“That was the ball I should have hit the most. I was disappointed the actual slot ball didn’t go over the fence,” Phillips said after being named man of the match.
“I felt I left a lot out there with 17 needed off the final over, but then Samad did what he did and obviously we got that little bit of luck with the no ball.” Phillips had come into the Hyderabad team for the under-performing big signing Harry Brook while England’s Joe Root played his first game of the season for Rajasthan.
The victory was set up by key knocks from Abhishek Sharma (55), Rahul Tripathi (47) and Heinrich Klaasen (26) as the team made its highest ever run chase.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling figures of 4-29 went in vain.
– Battle of brothers – Rajasthan posted 214-2 after a destructive second-wicket stand of 138 between Jos Buttler, who smashed 95 off 59 deliveries, and skipper Sanju Samson, who hit a 38-ball 66.
Buttler started slowly with his first 20 coming at a run a ball but changed gears to bring up his fifty.
Seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar denied Buttler a century to get him out lbw. Samson finished off the innings in a 17-run over but it wasn’t enough in the end.
“To be honest life is never easy playing this format, especially this tournament,” said Samson.
In the first match of the day, Hardik Pandya got the better of big brother Krunal as holders Gujarat Titans thrashed Lucknow Super Giants by 56 runs.
In the first ever IPL match between teams captained by brothers, Lucknow’s Krunal won the toss and elected to field at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
The brothers joked and hugged at the start but things turned serious when a destructive opening stand of 142 between Wriddhiman Saha (81) and Shubman Gill (94 not out) powered Gujarat to their highest ever IPL total of 227-2.
Lucknow put up a spirited reply with Kyle Mayers (48) and Quinton de Kock (70) leading the charge but they ended on 171-7 to allow Gujarat to consolidate their top spot in the 10-team table.
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