Proving that teamwork is more about ‘we’ and less of ‘me’, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s collective enterprise saw it cruise to a comfortable victory over Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Friday.
The result led to Kings XI Punjab being knocked out and Royal Challengers Bangalore facing a must-win situation in Saturday’s match against Chennai Super Kings.
SRH's bowling might was in full display, speed and spin combining well to choke the visitors’ chase 23 runs short.
Man-of-the-match Amit Mishra’s two for 8 statistically sidelined Dale Steyn’s two for 17, but the Hyderabad spearhead’s intimidatory aggression played no mean role in running the Royals aground. The game saw Thisara Perera reassert his position in the firing line as much as it underscored young Karan Sharma’s contribution.
James Peter Faulkner yet again turned out to be Sunrisers’ nemesis, planting the purple cap firmly across his forehead with the season’s best bag of five for 16. The Hyderabad side handed him the hat, so to say, gifting the wiry speedster his second five-for haul, the southpaw this time outdoing his earlier effort of five for 20.
Floundering at 5 for three at one stage, Sunrisers recouped to 136 for nine as Biplab Samantray’s valiant 55 steadied a wildly shaky ship. After the host took first strike, its batsmen were browbeaten right royally by the Rajasthan bowlers. Caught in the stranglehold, the top-order came down in a heap, Faulkner’s in-cutters, incisive if not downright hostile, accounting for Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan off the first and last deliveries respectively of his opening over.
Sensing Cameron White’s penchant to pull, Watson stationed Siddharth Trivedi at long-leg and the Sunrisers skipper walked right into the trap.
The home side’s first boundary came in the fifth over after which the duo of Hanuma Vihari and Samantray restored a semblance of stability from the shambles they were thrust into.
A taut line backed by a tight field gave little leeway to the batsmen, scampering for singles or twos when boundaries became hard to come by and hobbling to 48 for three halfway through. It took the Caribbean cavalier in Darren Sammy to shake off the shackles, lofting compatriot Kevon Cooper over his head, following which Samantray heaved one over the mid-wicket hoardings.
Sammy showed the bowling could be button-holed, smacking Watson into the crowds over cow corner before holing out to Hodge at long-off, bringing Faulkner abreast of Dwayne Bravo in the race for the purple cap.
Scoreboard:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Parthiv Patel b Faulkner 2 (6b), Shikhar Dhawan c Rahane b Faulkner 1 (3b), G. Hanuma Vihari c Sachin Baby b Trivedi 19 (28b), Cameron White c Trivedi b Watson 0 (1b), Biplab Samantray c Cooper b Faulkner 55 (46b, 6x4, 1x6), Darren Sammy c Hodge b Faulkner 23 (19b, 1x4, 1x6), Thisara Perera (not out) 17 (13b), Dale Steyn b Faulkner 0 (1b), Karan Sharma (run out) 4 (3b), Amit Mishra (run out) 0 (0b); Extras (b-1, lb-9, w-5): 15; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 136.
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Parthiv), 2-4 (Dhawan), 3-5 (White), 4-49 (Vihari), 5-105 (Sammy), 6-125 (Samantray), 7-129 (Steyn), 8-136 (Karan), 9-136 (Mishra).
Rajasthan Royals bowling: Brad Hodge 1-0-3-0, James Faulkner 4-1-16-5, Shane Watson 3-0-19-1, Pravin Tambe 3-0-20-0, Stuart Binny 1-0-9-0, Siddharth Trivedi 4-0-20-1, Kevon Cooper 4-0-39-0.
Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (run out) 25 (24b, 2x4, 1x6), Ajinkya Rahane c Dhawan b Karan 12 (25b, 1x6), Shane Watson c Sammy b Perera 11 (20b), Sanju Vishwanadh c Steyn b Mishra 5 (7b), Stuart Binny b Perera 8 (8b, 1x4), Brad Hodge b Steyn 8 (7b, 1x4), Sachin Baby lbw b Mishra 3 (7b), James Faulkner c Perera b Karan 6 (3b, 1x6), Kevon Cooper c Samantray b Steyn 26 (12b, 3x4, 1x6), Pravin Tambe (not out) 3 (6b), Siddharth Trivedi (not out) 0 (1b); Extras (lb-4, w-2): 6; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 113.
Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Dravid), 2-40 (Rahane), 3-51 (Vishwanadh), 4-61 (Watson), 5-65 (Binny), 6-75 (Sachin Baby), 7-82 (Faulkner), 8-85 (Hodge), 9-112 (Cooper).
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Dale Steyn 4-0-17-2, Ishant Sharma 4-0-22-0, Karan Sharma 4-0-33-2, Darren Sammy 1-0-4-0, Amit Mishra 4-0-8-2, Thisara Perera 3-0-25-2.
Man-of-the-match: Amit Mishra.
