IPL 2023: Sandeep no-ball, Samad last-ball six seal thrilling win for Sunrisers over Rajasthan

Rajasthan Royals had the match won several times before a no-ball at the death allowed Sunrisers Hyderabad to stay in contention with a last-ball six Abdul Samad.
The hosts believed they had the game in the bag when Samad was caught on the boundary off the sixth ball of the 20th over, with Sunrisers needing five for a win. As it turned out, the often-reliable Sandeep Sharma had overstepped and Samad smashed the free hit out of the ground to seal a four-wicket win and get his team off the foot of the points table as the Rajasthan Royals players were left shell-shocked.
Drama at the end
SRH needed 17 runs off the final over bowled Sandeep Sharma with Samad and Marco Jansen at the crease. Samad hit a six off the second ball to leave the equation to five runs from the last delivery.
The equation was even stiffer for the visitors as they needed 41 off 12 balls when Kiwi Glenn Phillips hit three successive sixes, followed a four, off left-arm seamer Kuldip Yadav to keep his team in the contest.

WHAT. A. GAME 😱😱
Abdul Samad wins it for the @SunRisers as he hits a maximum off the final delivery. #SRH win 4 wickets.
Scorecard – https://t.co/1EMWKvcgh9 #TATAIPL #RRvSRH #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/yh0WVMEbOz
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 7, 2023
The result put to waste the return to form of Jos Buttler and the half-century from skipper Sanju Samson after Rajasthan Royals had amassed 214/2 in their 20 overs. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s quality spell of 4/29 also went in vain.
SRH always seemed behind the eight-ball and managed 52 in the Powerplay with Anmolpreet Singh and Abhishek Sharma as their openers. With the asking rate ballooning, they couldn’t target Ravichandran Ashwin (4-0-35-1) either.
At the halfway mark, SRH were 87/1, needing another 128 at an asking rate of nearly 13 an over.
Abhishek Sharma (55) scored a fine half-century with a six but couldn’t go further. Murugan Ashwin, brought into the XI, had a tough day as Rahul Tripathi struck a four and two sixes to collect 19 runs in his third over.
RR captain Samson will wonder whether he needed to bowl Yadav and Murugan Ashwin at those stages as he had other options at his disposal. But he may have made the make of thinking the asking rate had gone beyond reasonable proportions.
They were hammered Gujarat Titans on Friday, but in a way, Sunday’s defeat would rankle more as they were in control of the game throughout before coming out on the wrong end.
Heinrich Klaasen, who hit a four and a six earlier, then hit Chahal for a six and a four in the 16th over before being caught Jos Buttler at long off.
Buttler, Samson star
Buttler, who had been having a quiet IPL for a while, smashed 95, along with an unbeaten 66 from Samson.
After a 54-run opening stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal (35), Buttler and Samson batted through most of the innings, adding 138 runs in 13.3 overs after opting to bat.

A solid 100-run partnership comes up between @josbuttler & @IamSanjuSamson.
Live – https://t.co/1EMWKvcgh9 #TATAIPL #RRvSRH #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/0Dm7vCopOG
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 7, 2023
Buttler hit 10 fours and four sixes while Samson had four boundaries and five hits over the fence. Almost all the SRH bowlers had a forgettable day.
The Royals reached 61 for one at the end of the Powerplay, as Jaiswal struck two sixes off the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the tall Marco Jansen as well as five fours before falling to the South African left-arm pacer.
But that didn’t curb the run-flow and Royals were 107 for 1 at the halfway stage.
Samson struck three big sixes off Mayank Markande in the ninth over which yielded 21 runs, and the two batsmen took the team to 150 in the 15th over. The last five overs yielded 60 runs.
Samson struck two more sixes off Markande in the 16th over and reached his third fifty of the season in the 18th over off 33 balls.

Shimron Hetmyer came after Buttler’s dismissal but a few tight overs at the end kept Royals in check and gave Sunrisers hope of chasing the total down, which they did in dramatic circumstances.
England stalwart Joe Root made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals but didn’t get to bat.
The result lifted Sunrisers from 10th spot to ninth, above Delhi Capitals on net run rate. Rajasthan Royals are in fourth spot, in the playoff places at the moment, but are on a losing streak at a crucial point in the league phase.