Sunrisers Hyderabad 217 for 6 (Abhishek 55, Tripathi 47, Chahal 4-29) beat Rajasthan Royals 214 for 2 (Buttler 95, Samson 66) by four wickets
Samad was nearly caught twice in two balls, first dropped by Obed McCoy at short third resulting in two runs and then hitting a six just over Joe Root's fingertips at long-on. Sandeep's near-yorkers conceded just four off the next three and with five to win off the last ball, Samad found long-on while attempting another straight six, and Sandeep lifted his finger in celebration. But those smiles soon disappeared because Sandeep had overstepped and when he re-bowled the last ball - another attempted yorker, the length off by a few inches - Samad completed Sunrisers' heist with a successful straight six right over the bowler's head.
Brisk but not the quickest start for SRH
SRH (seemingly) leave too much too late
With Heinrich Klaasen promoted to No. 4 and the equation at 98 off 42, Samson gave M Ashwin a third over despite his first two going for 23 and despite having other bowling options around, and he leaked another 19 which kept Sunrisers in the game.
Yuzvendra Chahal strikes before Glenn Phillips takes charge
Samson turned to Yuzvendra Chahal, who was taken for a six and a four in the first four balls of his spell before fighting back with wicket of Klaasen for 26 off 12. With 57 to get from 24, Tripathi got a life when Samson dropped him down the leg side off McCoy and he cashed in with a six off the next ball. In his last over, when SRH needed 44 off 18, Chahal landed the big blows when Tripathi found deep midwicket right on the boundary and Markram missed a reverse sweep to be given lbw. Finishing with 4 for 29 after a three-run 18th over, Chahal also went level with Dwayne Bravo for the most IPL wickets and had almost done the job for Royals.
The steep equation of 41 from 12 - and having not batted in a match situation for more than a month - didn't make any difference to Phillips. He belted out three sixes at the start of the 19th when Kuldip Yadav missed his yorkers, and edged one for four before another twist came in the form of Phillips' wicket when Shimron Hetmyer completed an excellent catch running towards the boundary on the leg side.
With Sunrisers needing 17 from the last over, Samad kept going after the straight boundaries and eventually left Royals bewildered.
Another quick start from Yashasvi Jaiswal
Jaiswal fell for 35 off 18 when his attempt to clear short third off Jansen's short ball resulted in an easy catch because of the extra bounce.
Jos Buttler flicks the switch on
Buttler was on 20 off 20 at the end of the eighth, but Samson came in and started finding boundaries straightaway. The ninth over, by Mayank Markande, lifted Royals' scoring rate further and that's when Buttler got going too. After seeing Samson strike back-to-back sixes, Buttler ended the over with a pulled six to take the over for 21 overall.
He brought out straight pulls and flourishing drives off the spinners to bring up a 32-ball fifty and keep the run rate comfortably over 10. Markande came back only to be hit for three more sixes, and Buttler jumped from 78 to 91 with three fours in the cover region, off Bhuvneshwar, in the 17th over.
T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar rein in Royals at the end
Despite the barrage of boundaries, T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar bowled the 18th and 19th overs - peppered with yorkers - for just 12 runs, even as Samson reached his fifty off 33 balls. Their accuracy also accounted for Buttler when he walked across and Bhuvneshwar's searing yorker trapped him lbw in front.
Expecting more yorkers in the last over, Samson ramped and steered two fours, with a straight six in between, in a 17-run over to finish. It would not be enough for Royals in the end.
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo