* Visitors' five-pace attack defend 138 to steal four-run victory over Rising Pune Supergiants * Leggie returns dream figures of 4-0-19-6
Adam Zampa came into the IPL with the reputation of being a bright leg-spinning prospect from Australia. And, when Rising Pune Supergiants were struggling in the bowling department all season, Zampa could not find a place in the XI as MS Dhoni opted for little-known wrist-spinner Murugan Ashwin.
The only game that he played this IPL before Tuesday was against Royal Challengers Bangalore, in which he took 2/35. The 24-year-old proved his worth on Tuesday when he returned magical figures of 4-0-19-6 as the bowling unit of RPS clicked to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 137/8.
It was a shame that Zampa's dream returns ended on the losing side. SRH's five-man seam attack came to the fore for the fourth successive game as Ashish Nehra defended 14 runs in the last over to guide SRH to a four-run victory.
Even Dhoni, who was run out off the penultimate delivery when six were needed, could only watch helplessly as his team is almost out of contention for the playoffs with their eighth loss in 11 games. SRH, meanwhile, are almost into the knockouts.
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Irrespective of the result, the game belonged to Zampa who delivered this season's maiden five-wicket haul and the second best-ever bowling figures in IPL history – the best staying with Sohail Tanvir (6/14) for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in 2008. Zampa's was also only the second instance of a six-wicket haul in IPL and also his first five-wicket bag in any format.
After giving away five runs in his first over and SRH's eighth over, Zampa was held back for the death overs. As SRH batsmen were struggling to score freely and had no other choice but to go for big shots, Zampa cashed in and foxed the batsmen to pick up 6/16 in a three-over second spell, bowling the 16th, 18th and 20th overs.
The pitch, which saw SRH race to 177 batting first only two evenings ago, behaved differently on Tuesday. RPS bowlers bowled a tight length to keep the SRH batsmen guessing. Ashok Dinda and RP Singh got the ball to swing early up with the latter even catching the outside edge of the dangerous Warner in the first six overs.
When the spinners operated after six overs, Ravichandran Ashwin bowled his full quota of four overs tidily in one stretch, even dismissing Shikhar Dhawan for an overambitious shot.
What the SRH batsmen lacked was partnerships. On the other hand, the partnerships that RPS bowlers forged made it tough for rival batsmen to steal runs. Such was the tight off spin-gentle medium pace combination of Ashwin and Rajat Bhatia that an explosive batsman of the calibre of Kane Williamson had a strike rate of less than 100 (32 in 37 balls).
And, when SRH batsmen looked to step on the pedal, Zampa finished them off with half-a-dozen wickets including three in the last over.
In the chase, RPS were in trouble early, losing Ajinkya Rahane to a beautiful outswing from Bhuvneshwar Kumar for nought in the first over. George Bailey was lucky twice in 34-run knock but wasn't third time lucky when he skied Moises Henriques to deep square-leg.
Ashwin, promoted to No. 4, had a fruitful stand with Bailey worth 49 for the third wicket. But that was not enough. The asking rate only mounted, making it tough for Dhoni and Perera.
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