Thisara Perera’s sparkling all-round performance overshadowed Darren Bravo’s fiery knock as Sunrisers Hyderabad overcame some middle-order batting jolts for a four-wicket win over Trinidad and Tobago in a Group B Champions League T20 match at the PCA Stadium here on Tuesday.
Asked to bat first, T&T posted a sound total of 160, which was overhauled by SRH with three balls remaining.
T&T’s innings was built on the strength of Bravo’s classy assault. The left-hander was in a mood to punish the SRH bowlers. The grace and effortlessness of Bravo’s aggressive strokeplay made for a visual treat.
His blazing knock of 66 from 44 balls was decorated with five fours and four straight sixes, including two massive ones off one Amit Mishra over. Bravo’s innings had all the ingredients one expects from T0 cricket.
In Ishant Sharma’s eventful final over, Bravo casually hammered the pacer for a four and a six before hitting it to Shikhar Dhawan at cover.
Bravo added 48 runs with Evin Lewis for the second wicket and 61 with Jason Mohammad for the third.
Denesh Ramdin (21) and Navin Stewart (17) helped T&T cross the 150-mark.
For SRH, Perera and Darren Sammy kept the runs in check capturing two wickets each.
SRH, in reply, had another decent start with Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan collecting 35 runs for the opening stand.
However, Sunil Narine’s introduction tilted the momentum in favour of the West Indian side.
Narine dismissed Parthiv with his first ball, and two overs later, Navin Stewart gleefully accepted a simple return catch to get rid of Dhawan. J.P. Duminy and Hanuma Vihari tried to steady the innings briefly.
But Vihari’s poor call for a run ended his South African partner’s stay in the middle. Ravi Rampaul’s direct throw from short fine-leg disturbed the stumps at the non-striker’s end.
Even as Narine defied the dew factor to bowl parsimoniously and return dream figures of four for nine, Perera chose others to unleash his raw power on. He clubbed four sixes and an equal number of fours to score a quick-fire unbeaten 57 and guide SRH to a memorable win.
The Sri Lankan all rounder built a decisive 29-ball 47-run stand with Sammy for the fifth wicket. The 17th over of the SRH innings was the turning point as Sammy and Perera amassed 21 runs from Rayad Emrit’s final over and dashed T&T’s hopes.
