After bowlers bowled their heart out, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner played a hard-fought knock alongside Vijay Shankar, who registered his maiden fifty of this season to give his side an all-important win against the off-colour Gujarat Lions to grab two crucial points on Saturday evening in Kanpur in a bid to amass 17 points in their 14 group stage matches, as Hyderabad jumped to number two on the points table which could further change if Kolkata Knight Riders claim a win against Mumbai Indians later on Saturday.
Hyderabad-based outfit chased down the target in 18.1 overs after classy Warner and courageous Shankar steadied team’s ship after they were struggling at 25 for two early on.
Giving his best shot, Warner finished his innings with the score of 69 off 52 balls. His innings was laced with nine fours and Shankar remained unbeaten on 63 off 44 balls, as his innings was also laced with nine boundaries.
During the innings, Warned crossed past the 600-run mark in this season, as he scored 604 runs in 13 matches at an average of 60.40 which also included one hundred and four fifties. Sunrisers Hyderabad opening batsmen came out with not too much of a success, as they lost their first wicket in the form of Shikhar Dhawan in the third over at the score of 20 when a slower delivery from Parveen Kumar outfoxed left-handed batsman which further saw ball taking the lower half-of-the-bat to find James Faulkner completing a catch to his front.
The 31-year-old Dhawan tried to play the half-hearted pull, as he scored 18 off 11 balls which included four boundaries. Moises Henriques, who did well for Sunrisers failed to anchor the innings with skipper, as he was dismissed in the same over. The Australian was caught by Karthik after scoring four off just two balls.
On the hot and humid afternoon, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner won the toss and elected to field first at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, as they have claimed just a single win while being on the away road this season against Kings XI Punjab at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali.
Adding to the stat, Warner won the fifth toss in a row against Lions in the overall matches they have played so far in the IPL.
Gujarat Lions was bundled out for 154 in 19.2 overs after the rollicking start from openers saw no genuine support from their middle order batsmen apart from all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s unbeaten 20 off 14 balls.
The pick of the bowlers for Sunrisers was Mohammed Siraj, who bagged four wickets, whereas, leg-spinner Rashid Khan claimed three wickets after conceding 34 runs in his four overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed two wickets and Siddarth Kaul bagged just one.
While coming out to bat, Lions openers Dwayne Smith and wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan made the merry by notching their respective fifties. The right and left-handed batting combination played a vital role at the top by battering Hyderabad bowlers in the first ten overs of the first innings.
It was the rookie leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who claimed Smith on 54 off 33 balls while trapping him in front of the stumps. Smith’s inning was laced with seven boundaries and two sixes. Ishan Kishan scored 61 off 40 balls was caught by wicket-keeper Naman Ojha on the bowling of Siraj. The Patna-born left-handed batsman smashed four sixes and five boundaries before seeing his side going down against decent bowling attack of Sunrisers.
At the score of 120 runs, the hosts lost three wickets against the disciplined bowling attack of visitors, as Lions four batsmen returned to the pavilion while adding just three runs on the board.
Skipper Suresh Raina, who has scored the bulk of runs and has been the top scorer for Gujarat Lions in this season with 442 runs, was dismissed by Siraj when Dhawan completed a catch. The left-handed batsman faced five balls before trudging off the ground.
Wicket-keeper batsman, Dinesh Karthik (0 off 1 ball) was dismissed cheaply by Rashid when Deepak Hooda caught him to see Lions in a spot of bother again. Aaron Finch (2 off 3 balls), who struggled with the bat, was clean bowled by Khan when ball pitched on the off before crashing into middle stump as zing bails lit off.
James Faulkner was bowled by Mohammed Siraj before Pradeep Sangwan was cleaned up on the very first ball he has faced without scoring by young pacer Siraj. Interestingly, Lions lost four batsmen on nought and further saw six dismissals as bowled.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked the wickets of Parveen Kumar and Munaf Patel after Ankit Soni was bowled by Siddarth Kaul.