MATCH 30: Hyderabad survived Shane Watson's hat-trick and defended a small total with aplomb on Thursday night.
BIG WICKET: Sanju Samson troops back to the hut.
AHMEDABAD: Sunrisers Hyderabad's strength in bowling came to the fore as they defended a small total to end Rajasthan Royals' four-match winning streak in IPL-7 on Thursday. Restricted to 134/9 after they were sent in to bat - thanks to Shane Watson's hat-trick - Sunrisers shot out Royals for 102 in 19.5 overs for a 32-run triumph.
Swing bowler Bhuvnenshwar Kumar (4/14) claimed the lion's share of wickets, although three of his came at the fag end of the chase, when the batsmen were looking to clear the boundary every ball. Dale Steyn (2/31) stood out with another blinding spell, while leggie Amit Mishra, though wicket-less, zipped through his four for just 13 runs and deprived the pursuit of momentum in the crucial middle overs.
On a run of four victories, Royals would have suppressed a snigger at the score they had held back Sunrisers to after sending them in. But the 135-run target appeared bigger when Watson’s team were reduced to 41/4 inside seven overs, each of Hyderabad’s starting quartet picking up a wicket.
Ajinkya Rahane (0) was caught off the third ball of the chase, off Bhuvneshwar. Opener Karun Nair (12) struck confident boundaries before Steyn’s furious pace took his outside edge, while Sanju Samson (16), having struck the premier fast bowler in the world for a six back over his head, was beaten and bowled by Karn Sharma’s leg-spin.
WARNER'S DIRECT HIT
Watson was the fourth batsman out when he was caught behind off Moises Henriques. Ninety were needed in 72 balls as the last recognized pair, Steven Smith and Stuart Binny, resumed in the middle. Ojha missed a stumping of Smith – off Karn – when the batsman was on 7.
But the promising 37-run partnership was nipped when Warner ran-out Binny with a superlative pick-up and direct hit from deep mid-wicket, leaving Royals 54 to win from five overs. With the pressure mounting, Smith went after Steyn for the big hit, but top-edged and was caught by Pathan on the off-side to effectively end the pursuit. The rest fell in a heap.
Watson’s hat-trick, Rajat Bhatia’s slow deception (3/23) and some bizarre running beween the wickets had earlier spelt doom for Sunrisers, as they wasted a brilliant Shikhar Dhawan start to toil to 134. Dhawan struck seven delightful boundaries in his 20-ball 33, but was bowled when he was cramped for room trying to cut Watson.
This was at the end of the fourth over and Hyderabad were on 37. As an exodus of batsmen began, Sunrisers managed to score just 84 in the 14 remaining overs and Dhawan remained their highest scorer.
WATSON'S HAT-TRICK
The next to go was Aaron Finch (9), caught brilliantly by Rahane running in from deep midwicket. And still Warner remained in the dugout, preceded as he was by Lokesh Rahul (18) and then Ojha (17). When Warner did come out - following Rahul being bowled by a Rajat Bhatia slower ball - he was stumped off a Pravin Tambe googly.
Another Bhatia slower ball dismissal of Ojha meant that Rajasthan’s support cast had yanked down Sunrisers – from their rapid start – to 86/4 after 12 overs. Watson had cleaned up Dhawan in the fourth over. When he returned for the 17th his first two balls fetched him the latter two-thirds of a hat-trick – Royals’ second in successive matches after Tambe’s feat against Kolkata.
Watson’s latter two victims were Henriques, playing in Darren Sammy’s stead, who was caught at long-off by Rahane, and Karn, who nicked to the ‘keeper. A couple of run-outs, including a bizarre third-attempt direct hit that claimed Mishra, spelt the end of a strange innings. Sunrisers had 50 on the board at the end of the Powerplay. The next 14 overs saw the addition of just 84 more. As it happened, they were more than enough. [CYCIPL]
