Mullanpur, April 9 (IANS): Nitish Kumar Reddy hammered a 37-ball 64 and raised 50 runs off 18 balls for the sixth wicket partnership with Abdul Samad but Arshdeep Singh's four-fer pegged back Sunrisers Hyderabad as they managed 182/9 against Punjab Kings in Match 23 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the PCA Stadium here on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Reddy hammered his maiden half-century in IPL off 32 balls and rescued them from 100/5 to reach a good total after Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and elected to field first.

Arshdeep turned out to be the thorn in the side for SRH, claiming two wickets in an over twice, once at the start and again in the death overs as he finished with 4-29 as PBKS used the conditions superbly to put SRH under pressure in this clash between two mid-table teams. This is the first match under lights at this new stadium in Mallanpur.

Sunrisers have made good starts in IPL 2024 thanks to openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, both of whom had a strike rate of 200+ in the event so far. SRH's hopes of posting a big score depended on them but on Tuesday, both of them failed to put up a big score as PBKS bowlers used the conditions superbly to throttle them.

Travis Head could have gone first ball if PBKS had taken DRS review after Kagiso Rabada beat him all ends up. Replays later showed that the Aussie opener had indeed nicked it to keeper Jitesh Sharma.

Head struck a couple of good boundaries but was out for 21 (15 balls) off Arshdeep Singh as he tried to cut across the line at a fullish delivery outside off that went straight. Shikhar Dhawan pouched a fine catch over his shoulder.

It became 27/2 three balls later as the left-handed Arshdeep had Aiden Markram edging behind to Jitesh Sharma for a two-ball duck. Arshdeep's double-wicket over pushed SRH to the backfoot as PBKS exposed their ultra-aggressive batting approach.

Abhishek Sharma tried to hit out against the disciplined bowling and struck Sam Curran for a couple of boundaries but was out off the last ball of the fifth over and SRH were down to 39/3. They brought in Rahul Tripathi as an Impact Substitute in place of Travis Head but he too could not make a real impact, getting out out for 11 off 14 balls. And when Heinrich Klaasen got out for nine, SRH were 100/5 and staring at a poor score.

SRH found a hero in the 20-year-old Nitish Kumar Reddy, who hammered a 37-ball 64 to give some respectability to their score. Reddy, who had played just eight T20s before Tuesday's match, delighted the capacity crowd with some beautiful pull shots, a couple of nice cuts and ramp shots taking the ball on the up and hitting it in the air. He was dropped by Shashank Singh at the boundary.

From 14 off 18 balls at one stage, Reddy motored to 40 off 28, pulling Rabada over long leg and clubbing Sam Curran over deep square. Reddy, who was lucky as a skier from him just eluded Dhawan despite a valiant attempt, blasted 22 runs off the 15th over off Harpreet Brar, hitting two fours and two sixes as he completed his half-century off 32 balls, studded with three fours and four maximums to take Hyderabad to some respectability. He found a good partner in Abdul Samad, who played a nice cameo, scoring a 12-ball 25, as they raised 50 runs off 18 balls and raised SRH's hopes of reaching a big total.

But PBKS skipper Dhawan brought Arshdeep back into attack and the left-handed pacer responded superbly by claiming two wickets in an over to push SRH back again. Struck for a four by Samad, Arshdeep bowled one far and wide outside off, and Samad ended up hitting it to Harshal Patel at deep point. A delivery and one run later, Arshdeep sent down a low full toss and Reddy tried to ramp it and found Rabada at long-off. Rabada got Pat Cummins in the next over to further hamper their progress.

Shahbaz Ahmed blasted a four and six sandwiched by a wide as Arshdeep Singh ended his fourth over with 15 runs but Sam Curran sent back Bhuvneshwar off the penultimate delivery. The innings ended dramatically when Harshal Patel palmed over the rope at long-on as Jaydev Unadkat threw his bat at a slower one.

Brief scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad 182/9 in 20 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 64, Abdul Samad 25; Arsndeep Singh 4-29, Sam Curran 2-41, Harshal Patel 2-30) against Punjab Kings.