Race to the
Super 7

Haryana Hurricanes began with the sort of confidence that makes bowlers check whether the boundary rope has quietly moved 🏏. Shiva Perumalsamy’s first over disappeared for 15, with Ramesh Sarepalli collecting four after four. Ankur Sah’s third added another ten. Then Hemant Joshi, Sudersan Jayanthi Sridharan and Sunny Behera began tightening the screws: Hemant took 1/6, Sudersan found two wickets in his return spell, and Sunny’s wonderfully stingy first spell finished at 1/5. The Hurricanes had raced to 43, but the innings was already developing speed bumps. 🧱

Harish Jain made 13 before the twelve-ball rule called time, while Parth Shirolawala contributed 12 in the same hardworking middle stretch; Nikhil Kothari chipped in with ten before the Hurricanes hit the squeeze. Overs 13 to 15 produced only seven runs and two wickets, with Shiva returning to take 2/2 and Sudersan completing a superb 3/16. Ankur Sah’s late ten-run over offered a little oxygen, but the Hurricanes closed on 114/9, Ramesh’s 21 off 11 the early blaze and Parth eventually adding 21 off 22. 🔥

Austin’s chase immediately remembered that 115 is a target, not a suggestion. Parth Shirolawala opened the bowling with 0/8, Aditya Gulkotwar struck in his first over, and Vinod Yadav’s fourth cost ten as Shiva Perumalsamy supplied 16 off 12 before stepping aside. Harish Jain then turned the morning into his personal traffic jam, taking 1/8, while Sagar Mehla delivered a tiny masterpiece of inconvenience: 1/5 with four dots. Prithvi Aare’s 15 gave Austin a platform, but wickets arrived in pairs and the chase reached 65/6 before anyone could get comfortable. 😬

Chinmay K kept the pressure alive, though Kamaljeet Dagar’s 18 off 12 and a ten-run over against him pushed Austin forward again. Then came the match’s loudest moment 💥: Nalin Nimavat’s fifteenth went for 18, including two sixes, and suddenly the impossible-looking finish had a pulse. Kamaljeet added 21 off 18 before returning to fall, while Prithvi came back to finish unbeaten on 20 off 14. Harish’s spell was the Hurricanes’ great counterpunch—3/15—and Vinod Yadav quietly added 1/10, but Austin still needed five with one wicket left. ⚡

Parth Shirolawala took the last wicket and finished with 1/23, leaving the Super Kings nine down and five runs from the promised land. They found those runs in 16.4 overs, winning by one wicket in the sort of finish that makes everyone suddenly remember they were “always confident.” Shiva Perumalsamy’s 16 and 2/21 earned him Man of the Match, a richly deserved double act from the morning’s most useful chaos merchant. Austin Super Kings: 115/9. Haryana Hurricanes: 114/9. Saturday: rescued, celebrated, and probably discussed in the group chat before the players had found their shoes. 🎉