Mullanpur, April 10 (IANS): The IPL 2016 winners Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pulled off a narrow two-run win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their IPL 2024 match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday evening.

In their tight win, seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy shined with his all-round heroics. Reddy hit a 37-ball 64 to lift SRH’s innings from 64/4 to 182/9, which proved to be a game-changer.

He also used his seam-bowling skills to dismiss Jitesh Sharma in the 16th over and finish with figures of 1-33 in three overs, apart from taking a superb catch in the deep to be adjudged Player of the Match.

Rudra Pratap Singh, the former India left-arm fast-bowler, lauded Reddy’s efforts, and was more impressed by how the youngster hooked a menacing Kagiso Rabada for a superb six. "When you come onto a platform like the IPL as an uncapped player, you have to face various international stars. These players are experienced, skilled, and understand the game more than you.

"Despite that, the innings he played is extremely praiseworthy. Parthiv (Patel) pointed out the six he hit off Kagiso Rabada. That wasn’t even a short delivery, he just picked it up well and batted well throughout after that. They reached this far because of him.

"That over of Harpreet Brar shifted the momentum because, until then, the batting was under a lot of pressure. Nobody besides Nitish was batting well but from there, things changed and they made a strong score," he said to official streaming partner JioCinema.

Similar views were echoed by former Australia pacer Brett Lee. “He just gets better and better in both facets of the game. He’s good in the field as well. He hit balls for sixes tonight that had no right to go over the rope. He possesses or finds power that’s nowhere to be seen, so he’s just done a great job.”