It wasn’t simply his batting contribution that was key. Nitish, who bowls vigorous medium tempo within the mid-130s, dismissed Jitesh Sharma within the sixteenth over with Punjab Kings searching for a late cost.
“He was superior,” Cummins stated. “Straight to the highest of the order [in this game], was incredible within the subject, bowled three overs too. To get us to 180 off his bat, it was superb.”
Nitish himself appears to be a person of few phrases, however appeared happy at with the ability to contribute. It is seemingly he solely bought the chance as a result of Sunrisers determined Abhishek Sharma’s type was too good for him to be batting at No. 3. With Mayank Agarwal sick, Abhishek made a splash in opposition to CSK with a 12-ball 37 to set the tempo of their chase of 166, which they comfortably achieved with 11 balls to spare.
That efficiency could have tempted the workforce administration to proceed with Abhishek on the high with Travis Head, paving the best way for Nitish to maintain his place although Agarwal was dominated match for this match. Nitish repaid the religion with a back-to-the-wall knock through which he hit 4 fours and 5 sixes.
“For me, it’s a huge contribution for my workforce and myself,” Nitish stated on the presentation. “I’ve been speaking to myself that I’ve to imagine in myself and that I’ve to be there [for the team]. The seamers had been bowling effectively, so I didn’t wish to take them on. When the spinners got here on, I needed to assault them and that’s what I did.”
Cummins highlighted Sunrisers’ method as he summed up their tight win. “It was a fantastic recreation of cricket,” he stated. “They bowled very well in the beginning, we did effectively to get to 182 after which defended it. The fantastic thing about the influence participant is that you simply really feel you’ve gotten actually deep batting. We attempt to be optimistic, to take the sport on.
“In case you get 150-160, you’re going to lose 9 out of ten video games anyway. We knew the brand new ball was going to be a key time. We had been fairly completely satisfied [with our score]. We noticed what occurred with the brand new ball for them, so thought if me and Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] might begin off with a wicket, it could be good. Now we have loads of left-armers, right-armers, so simply tried to offer the bowlers the very best probability of success.”
As the ultimate ball was nailed for a six, Kings could not have helped however look again on the six they conceded off the final ball when Harshal Patel missed a possibility on the long-on boundary.
“Shashank and Ashutosh performed nice knocks. I really feel that we stored them to complete. Sadly, we couldn’t money in on the primary six overs and that’s the place we misplaced the sport,” Dhawan stated. “That pinched us onerous. The wicket was not providing that a lot bounce so each particular person has to give you higher plans.
“We might have stopped 10-15 runs extra and that made a distinction as effectively. As a batting unit, we didn’t carry out. It will be significant for the highest order to carry out. Shashank and Ashutosh’s efficiency provides us confidence and hope for the subsequent recreation. Now we have to do higher in sure areas and enhance.”
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
