Shikhar Dhawan struck an unbeaten 47 after a clinical display by his bowling teammates as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Gujarat Lions by five wickets on Friday.
Chasing 127 for a win, opener Dhawan dropped anchor as he carried his bat through the innings. The Sunrisers chased down the target with six balls to spare at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
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Kumar to continue. Ojha smashes it straight over the bowler's head. And, that's forced him to change his line -- a wide, this time. Four! This time he's clipped it off his legs and it's almost reached the ropes in full. Now he moves away and drives it for a four, finishes it in style for the SRH who've won the match by 5 wickets.
SRH 113/5 after 18 overs (S. Dhawan 39 off 38 | N. Ojah 2 off 2)
Bravo to continue. OUT! Hooda tries to pull one but he's late on that -- gets a faint edge and DK takes it easily. Naman Ojha's here. He's bowled a tight over -- seven came off this one. Two overs to go, SRH need 14.
SRH 106/4 after 17 overs (S. Dhawan 36 off 36 | Deepak Hooda 16 off 10)
Kaushik's here. Four singles and a boundary -- a lucky one that, as Bravo misses one through his legs near the ropes -- eight came off this one. 21 runs required from 18 balls.
SRH 98/4 after 16 overs (S. Dhawan 36 off 33 | Deepak Hooda 10 off 7)
Kulkarni, who bowled a wick maiden in his last, to bowl. Short and wide and it's easy for Dhawan who hits one over the point fielder. He continues to keep it tight -- seven came off this one. 29 needed off the last 24 balls.
SRH 91/4 after 15 overs (S. Dhawan 30 off 29 | Deepak Hooda 9 off 5)
Jadeja to bowl. A couple of singles, doubles and a boundary came off this one. Hooda waits for it and dabs it fine for a four off the last ball. They need 36 off the last five overs.
SRH 81/4 after 14 overs (S. Dhawan 29 off 28 | Deepak Hooda 0 off 0)
Kulkarni's keep Yuvraj honest -- five dot balls to start this over and the last one produces a wicket! What an over, this! A wicket maiden. He's gone for 8.
SRH 81/3 after 13 overs (S. Dhawan 29 off 28 | Yuvraj Singh 5 off 8)
Short and wide from Sangwan and Dhawan's helped it behind point for a four. And the next one's bowled on the pads and another boundary. He's clipped it off his legs easily. Runs starting to flow the SRH -- 12 runs off this.
SRH 69/3 after 12 overs (S. Dhawan 17 off 22 | Yuvraj Singh 4 off 7)
Bravo to bowl his second. The first ball nearly manages to get past Yuvraj's bat -- it was a slower one and Yuvraj manages to get his bat down in time. Runs coming only in singles -- four off this one.
SRH 65/3 after 11 overs (S. Dhawan 16 off 19 | Yuvraj Singh 2 off 5)
Top shot! Dhawan waits on the backfoot and cuts Kaushik's short ball late -- four. He's keeping it tight on the middle and off-stump line. They're keeping the scoreboard ticking here. Eight came off this one. 62 runs needed off 54 balls.
SRH 57/3/2 after 10 overs (S. Dhawan 9 off 15 | Yuvraj Singh 1 off 3)
DJ Bravo to bowl the 10th over. And he strikes immediately. Henriques tries to pull a short one but only manages to get his gloves on that -- and Karthik takes a diving catch to he left. Yuvi's here. He continues to persist with the short ball here.
SRH 53/2 after 9 overs (S. Dhawan 7 off 12 | M. Henriques 14 off 15)
Four! Henriques breaks the shackles -- smashes on through the covers for a boundary. A much-better over this, a couple of doubles and singles; and a boundary. Eleven runs came off this one. SRH need 42 runs from 11 overs.
SRH 43/2 after 8 overs (S. Dhawan 7 off 12 | M. Henriques 5 off 10)
Jadeja's here. Flat and quick from the left-hander -- no turn for him. And another tight over -- 4 runs off this one. They're stringing together some quick, tight overs here. The run rate's 5.5.
SRH 39/2 after 7 overs (S. Dhawan 4 off 7 | M. Henriques 4 off 9)
Shivil Kaushik to bowl. The spinner makes a superb start -- only 1 came off this one.
SRH 38/2 after 6 overs (S. Dhawan 3 off 6 | M. Henriques 4 off 4)
Kulkarni to continue. He's firing them straight and within the stumps -- the first 5 balls yield only 1 runs. And the last one spoils the over -- Henriques gets a thick edge and flies to the third man boubdary.
SRH 33/2 after 5 overs (S. Dhawan 2 off 3 | M. Henriques 0 off 1)
Kumar to continue. Out! Willimson tries to force on over the covers but that bounces slightly more than he expected and gets the top the bat. Dr. Smith, at covers, takes a sharp catch. Moises Henriques's the next batsman. Terrific over from Kumar -- only 2 runs and a wicket.
SRH 31/1 after 4 overs (S. Dhawan 1 off 2 | Williamson 5 off 5)
Dhawal Kulkarni is introduced into the attack and makes a huge impact in the first ball. Warner's out! He tried to be aggressive there but mistimes it give a simple catch to the mid on fielder. Kane Williamson's the next man in. Four! Super shot, this -- plays it late and gets a four behind point.
SRH 26/0 after 3 overs (S. Dhawan 0 off 1 | David Warner 24 off 16)
Kumar's keeping it tight and not bowling any boundary balls. Only three off this one.
SRH 23/0 after 2 overs (S. Dhawan 0 off 1 | David Warner 22 off 11)
Pradeep Sangwan to bowl the second. He needs to sort his line here -- first two balls are on the pads, the second's a wide. He makes the correction but Warner plays it on the up and lofts it over mid off for a four. He's bowling at decent speeds, here. Six! Short and wide -- and Warner slaps it over the midwicket boundary. 16 came off this one!
David Dhawan pair can make this match a blockbuster win for SRH. >#SRHvGL
— Aashish Kushwaha (@iamash_007) >May 6, 2016
SRH 7/0 after 1 over (S. Dhawan 0 off 1 | David Warner 7 off 5)
The openers — David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan — make their way to the middle. Four! Some width on offer for Warner who thumps one over the covers for a boundary. The ball's swinging both across the two left-handers and into them. Seven come off this first.
Dwayne Bravo says the pitch is "two-paced" and the Lions have to make inroads into the SRH batting line-up in the first six overs.
GL 126/6 after 20 overs (A Finch 51 off 42 | P. Kumar 6 off 4)
Bhuvi to bowl the last. Finch's trying to hit the ball hard and losing his shape -- a couple of mishits yield only three runs. Four!Praveen Kumar gets an inside edge and that runs away to a boundary. A good last over for GL -- the UP lad's given away 12 off this one. And Gujarat finish at 126/6 at the end of 20 overs.
GL 114/6 after 19 overs (A Finch 44 off 38 | P. Kumar 1 off 2)
Fizz strikes! Jadeja tries to smash one over the ring but only manages to lob a simple catch to the mid off fielder. Wow! He's bowling few in the mid 140s and some less than 120 kmph -- the batsmen are not able to make good connection. SIX! Finch manages to get one off the middle, finally! Mustafizur finishes his superb spell -- his figures read: 4 - 0 - 17 - 2.
GL 106/5 after 18 overs (A Finch 37 off 35 | R. Jadeja 18 off 12)
Nehra to continue. And the first one's a terrific yorker. Finch tries to move away but Nehra follows him and it's a precious dot ball. A couple of dot balls and Finch manages to get off strike with a single. Finally they get some width -- Jadeja smashes it behind point for four. RR's 5.88.
GL 99/5 after 17 overs (A Finch 36 off 32 | R. Jadeja 12 off 9)
Fiz is back. He's given away only three runs off the two overs he's bowled! Another terrific over, this time it's six runs. The run rate's still well below 6. They need to get a move on soon.
GL 93/5 after 16 overs (A Finch 31 off 27 | R. Jadeja 11 off 8)
Henriques to continue. Warner drops a simple catch at long off -- he overran it and doesn't hold on it. How costly will this miss be? Finch's the last of the recognised batsment for GL. And the next one goes for a four -- this time, off Jadeja's willow. It was overpitched and he drives it between mid off and cover.
GL 85/5 after 15 overs (A Finch 29 off 24 | R. Jadeja 5 off 4)
Sran strikes! Substitute Vijay Shankar takes a terrific catch to dismiss Bravo -- he tumbles and just manages to keep off the ropes. Bravo's struggle comes to an end. Jadeja's the next man in and the run rate's dipped below 6 now.
Sran GL 79/4 after 14 overs (A Finch 28 off 24 | D Bravo 18 off 19)
Mustafizur to continue. He's bowling over the wicket and angling it across Bravo -- tight line, too. The batsmen are finding it difficult to negotiate him -- only one came off this one. Super over, this.
GL 78/4 after 13 overs (A Finch 28 off 22 | D Bravo 17 off 15)
Bravo flicks and earns a four through Fine-leg. We are hard-pressed to see any ball rocketing off the bat today. The surface is really holding up, and the ball is bobbing up off the bat.
GL 70/4 after 12 overs (A Finch 27 off 20 | D Bravo 10 off 11)
And Finch now pulls aggressively for four , just beating the lunging Square-leg fielder. Sran has been the least intimidating of the Sunriser bowlers, and Lions should look to target him.
GL 61/4 after 11 overs (A Finch 20 off 16 | D Bravo 8 off 9)
Bravo escaped there. Stretches across and slices it high behind off, but Williamson can't get to it this time.
GL 54/4 after 10 overs (A Finch 17 off 13 | D Bravo 4 off 6)
The Sunrisers have so little hope from this pitch that Bravo is unable to milk even a full-toss outside the off-stump. But Finch gets it away now through Point as Henriques bowls it short and wide.
GL 45/4 after 9 overs (A Finch 11 off 9 | D Bravo 3 off 4)
Yuvraj makes his appearance at the pitch now. Even less pace now for the Lions to work with. How are the runs going to come? Finch is falling over, getting inside-edges that miss the stumps, Bravo is edging it violently ricocheting off the 'keeper's gloves, missing the ball on his pads. Living life on the edge, are the Lions. They are sorely in need of this Timeout now to strategise their way back into some sort of stability.
GL 39/4 after 8 overs (A Finch 9 off 5 | D Bravo 0 off 0)
Henriques into the attack now. McCullum just unable to transfer his weight properly into the ball. And he bowls a full in-swinger to have Finch fob an attempted flick off the pads. Oh my lord. McCullum (7 from 19) has given up the ghost here after three overs worth of torture, he steps out and slices it to Long-off, where Warner sprints in sideways and pouches it. But Finch ends the over with a consolatory four with an inside-edge through Fine-leg.
GL 32/3 after 7 overs (A Finch 3 off 4 | B McCullum 6 off 16)
Barinder Sran comes in now. Can he sustain the seamers' hold on the match? Lets it go a bit, with a couple of wides. But the batsmen just can't get the ball away to the boundary. Some voodoo at work here.
GL 26/3 after 6 overs (A Finch 0 off 2 | B McCullum 4 off 12)
Things are happening here tonight! Dinesh Karthik is squared up and gets a thick edge to Gully, where Kane Williamson dives low to his left and rises with the ball in his hand, unsure if he caught it. The footage shows the ball hit his fingers and bounced into his palm. And that is out. Karthik (0 from 3) is gone too. Finch is in. Can the match change
GL 24/2 after 5 overs (D Karthik 0 off 0 | B McCullum 3 off 11)
As the Sunrisers are sticking to a back-of-length sort of approach, Raina is imrpovising around the crease. Moves to his leg-side and lofts one over Extra Cover, and then slogs a six over Midwicket and then whips a four through Fine-leg. And Raina (20 from 10) is gone! Bhuvi slows it down and gets the Gujarat Lions captain chipping straight back into his hands.
GL 11/1 after 4 overs (S Raina 8 off 5 | B McCullum 2 off 10)
The Lions didn't want this kind of a start, added to the pressure of coming off two straight losses. Nehra continues to bowl beautifully to the right-hander. That must be the fifth time McCullum has been cut in half. Baz's frustration shows as he tries stepping out again, and plays the most wooden shot that barely trickles to Mid-off. Ok, but Raina is not having any more of this, as he stands and whips it away on over Backward Square-leg for six . Phew. That should dig Lions out of the mire they have been in the past 4 overs.
GL 3/1 after 3 overs (S Raina 1 off 1 | B McCullum 1off 8)
And Smith finally gets off the blocks in Mustafizur's over, with a soft push to Short Midwicket. The Sunrisers are in with a chance at grabbing a wicket with so much pressure on the batsmen at the outset. Brendon slaps it square, and still no boundary. And gone! Smith (1 from 9) flashes at a ball just outside off-stump and it flies straight to Short Third-man. The Lions need to get the bugs out of their eyes.
There are more flies and moths out there on the pitch, than people in that stadium. >#SRHvsGL
— Pa$caliFi3d (@insane_case) >May 6, 2016
GL 0/0 after 2 overs (D Smith 0 off 6 | B McCullum 0 off 6)
Now Ashish Nehra. Utterly cramping McCullum up here. Three deliveries that start on off and straighten back into middle. The fourth doesn't swing back in, Baz cuts hard and Shikhar Dhawan intercepts. Now Brendon tries to advance to a back-of-a-length delivery and cramps himself up even more as the ball goes through. And two consecutive maidens for Sunrisers to begin. Makes you realise, cricket is fun not just when the bat is doing the talking.
GL 0/0 after 1 over (D Smith 0 off 6 | B McCullum 0 off 0)
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar begins with a maiden to an opening pair comprised of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum.
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David Warner wins the toss and Sunrisers Hyderabad elects to bowl first . And guess what. Yuvraj Singh comes back in for Sunrisers Hyderabad tonight.
Gujarat Lions today:
DR Smith, BB McCullum, SK Raina*, KD Karthik†, AJ Finch, DJ Bravo, R Jadeja, P Sangwan, P Kumar, D Kulkarni, S Kaushik
Sunrisers Hyderabad are:
DA Warner*, S Dhawan, KS Williamson, Yuvraj Singh, MC Henriques, NV Ojha†, DJ Hooda, B Kumar, BB Sran, A Nehra, Mustafizur Rahman
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Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad
DA Warner*, A Ashish Reddy, RK Bhui, Bipul Sharma, TA Boult, BCJ Cutting, S Dhawan, MC Henriques, DJ Hooda, S Kaul, B Kumar, A Mithun, EJG Morgan, Mustafizur Rahman, A Nehra, NV Ojha, V Shankar, KV Sharma, BB Sran, TL Suman, AP Tare, KS Williamson, Yuvraj Singh
Gujarat Lions Squad
SK Raina*, S Ladda, AD Nath, Amit Mishra, DJ Bravo, P Dogra, ER Dwivedi, JP Faulkner, AJ Finch, Ishan Kishan, RA Jadeja, SB Jakati, KD Karthik, S Kaushik, DS Kulkarni, P Kumar, BB McCullum, PJ Sangwan, JN Shah, UA Sharma, DR Smith, DW Steyn, PV Tambe, AJ Tye
