A stunning six-wicket haul from young Australian spinner Adam Zampa was in vain as the Rising Pune Supergiants team slipped to a gut-wrenching four-run defeat to the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a thrilling IPL clash.
Zampa finished the match with figures of 6-19 as he ripped through the Sunrisers' powerful batting line-up as the visitors scrambled to a below-par 8-138.
Skipper David Warner was caught behind by MS Dhoni off former India Test seamer RP Singh for 11 with Ravichandran Ashwin then snaring his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan for 33.
The innings was then all about Zampa who dismissed Yuvraj Singh, then Kane Williamson and Moises Henriques in successive balls to leave the table-topping Sunrisers reeling at 5-114 heading in to 18th over.
The 24-year-old tweaker was handed the ball by skipper Dhoni for the final six deliveries of the innings and he responded to the challenge magnificently with three more scalps as Warner's decision to bat first having won the toss looked to have backfired spectacularly.
RPS' response got off to a dreadful start with Ajinkya Rahane dismissed without scoring and Usman Khawja run out for 11.
George Bailey and Ashwin, moved up the order to No.4 by Dhoni, consolidated the innings with a 49-run partnership before the Australian fell for 34 off the bowling of Henriques from the final ball of the 12th over.
Ashwin departed nine deliveries later for 29 with Naman Ojha taking a stunning diving catch and he was soon joined back in the pavilion by Saurabh Tiwary (9) as the hosts slumped to 5-86 with five overs remaining.
Some big-hitting from Dhoni and Thisara Perera calmed the nerves of the local fans, but two fine overs from Mustafizur Rahman and Ashish Nehra swung the game in the visitors' favour.
With only 22 runs to defend, Mustafizur conceded eight runs to give Nehra the cushion of 14 runs from the final six balls.
The veteran seamer nipped out Perera (17) with his third ball with Yuvraj running out Dhoni (30) off the fifth.
It left Zampa needing to hit a boundary to force a super over but he could only edge to Ojha who took another fine catch and seal a thrilling victory that ended RPS' finals hopes.
Both skippers lauded the performance of Zampa, who was named man of the match.
"I thought we were 30 runs below par," said Warner.
"But I always knew if we could post a positive total we would have a chance. The last couple of games, Naman has been phenomenal and Zampa showed what a player he is."
Warner's comments were echoed by a bitterly disappointed Dhoni.
"Adam Zampa was fantastic," he said.
"I think he's a good find. He's someone that can give us stability in the middle overs."
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