It was a case of so near yet so far for Punjab Kings as they couldn’t chase down the 183-run target against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday (April 9). They lost the match by just two runs despite needing 78 runs off the last five overs. Once again, it was the duo of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma – heroes of their win over Gujarat Titans – who took them close when they needed 29 runs off the last six balls.
In the same match, SRH all-rounder Nitish Reddy starred with the bat smashing 64 runs off just 37 balls propelling his side to a competitive total of 182 runs in their 20 overs. It has been a season of unknown players performing in the cash-rich league and Shashank Singh attributes it to a lot of hard work behind the scenes and in domestic cricket. He also reckons that having self belief is what drives such cricketers including him and eventually, they reap rewards like he is doing currently in IPL 2024.