Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner struck a highly entertaining knock of 76 off just 45 balls to steer his side to a wonderful nine-wicket win over Gujarat Lions.
After choosing to bowl first, Hyderabad led by the superb bowling show by teenaged Afghan sensation, Rashid Khan, who restricted the Lions for just 135/7 in 20 overs.
The chase was effortless, as Warner along with Henriques stitched an unbeaten 108-runs stand for the second wicket and make the target look easy-peasy. Henriques, the all-rounder, batted as the second fiddle to Warner but his contribution was spectacular too.
Suresh Raina, the losing skipper, felt that if they don’t improve their bowling, they shouldn’t think of winning the games. He also appreciated the bowling effort made by the opposition, especially Rashid Khan.
“I think we did not have enough runs on the board. They bowled really well, especially the Afghanistan spinner. We haven’t bowled well in the power play as well. We were going well before he (Rashid Khan) came in and got three wickets. 135 was never enough on that wicket.”
“We have to rise our bowling and if we don’t do that, we don’t deserve to be in the top four. We have not played him much and that was the difference. Jadeja might come back for the next game and we have some experience coming in with him, especially in our spin bowling department. Roy played really well and Smithy, batting in the middle order did well.”
The victory would not have been easy had Afghan leg-spinner – Rashid Khan – not stunned the Lions with his leg-breaks and googlies. The teenager snapped 3/19 and won not one but two accolades tonight – The Purple Cap and the Man of the Match award.
“It is a wonderful and a positive message for Afghanistan. They love their players out there. I have been getting a lot of support from the people of Hyderabad as well. The coach asked me where I was comfortable bowling but I told them that I would bowl everywhere in whichever the situation the team wanted me to. They bowled me in the powerplay today and I knew that the batsmen weren’t reading me well.”
Warner also credited Rashid in his post-match interview apart from appreciating the bowling efforts of Ashish Nehra and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The skipper couldn’t stop raving about Rashid and called him the ‘superstar’ of the team, who added the crucial balance to the team in the absence of Mustafizur Rahman.
“Fantastic effort by the bowlers. It is one of those surfaces that is dry and the ball comes on nicely. Fantastic effort from Rash and well backed up by Bhuvi and Nehra. Credit to the curator, he is always fantastic with these surfaces. Rashid is a superstar in the making, he adds a great dynamic to our team. With Fizz out as well he helps us add balance to our side. I give my bowlers the freedom to go out there and execute their plans.”
“We always plan to minimise the wickets lost and score quickly to boost up the net run-rate. Moises has added a great strike force to our team. He’s done it for us in the past and he’s done it in the BBL as well. A big thank you to our fans too for coming out here.”