SRH win eclipses Hardik heroics
India all-rounder’s 50 not out and 1/27 with the ball go in vain as skipper Williamson leads Sunrisers chase
NAVI MUMBAI: With a quiet hand gesture, Hardik Pandya instructed the physio rushing in to turn back. Seconds earlier, the Gujarat Titans (GT) captain— half a dozen balls into his innings—had been smacked on the helmet by Umran Malik’s first delivery of the game, a searing bouncer. Shaking the knock off, Pandya drove the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer for four next ball and pulled the next one for the same result.
Look no further than those three balls for proof that the India all-rounder means business this Indian Premier League (IPL) season. On Monday at the DY Patil Stadium here, however, Pandya could not find partners in his brittle middle-order to provide wings to the innings. Perhaps the responsibility of leading and batting at No 4 is a different hat to wear for the once-feared finisher to wear. It meant his blazing start meandered to a 42-ball 50*, and GT to only 162/7.
Pandya’s counterpart Kane Williamson (57—46b, 2x4, 4x6) went the other way, going at runa-ball for 25 before switching gears like he often does to lead SRH to an eight-wicket win, their second on the trot that handed GT their first defeat.
Staying true to their batting template, SRH didn’t hit a boundary in the first four overs of the chase. Williamson then pulled Mohammed Shami for four and six while Abhishek Sharma hit four fours off Lockie Ferguson to end the powerplay.
Sharma fell to former teammate Rashid Khan, yet at 75/1 in the 10th over SRH were going at par. Rahul Tripathi hit a couple of lusty blows before retiring hurt in visible discomfort. Williamson though upped the ante, pulling Pandya and lapping Ferguson for sixes.
When he holed out Pandya’s slower one at the start of the 17th over, SRH needed 34. The experienced Nicholas Pooran (34*--18b) and Aiden Markram saw them through with five balls to spare.
Earlier, when SRH began, they were in the mood for freebies, Bhuvneshwar Kumar finding swing but also erring in line for two wide fives in a 17-run opening over. Shubman Gill had been the mainstay of GT’s batting, but Tripathi’s one-handed diving catch at cover clipped Gill’s knock.
A scratchy powerplay for GT still fetched 51—a Matthew Wade reverse sweep over the fielder’s fingertips and a Sai Sudharsan top-edged pull going for boundaries. The Tamil Nadu batter was snapped up by state teammate T Natarajan in the sixth over.
While Washington Sundar extracted turn from the deck, it was Umran Malik’s pace that made the batters hop around. After that one knock and two hits off his first five balls, Malik caught Wade in front from round the wicket.
That single action-packed over got the crowd going. Not the GT innings, though. David Miller was unable to find any rhythm, eating up 15 balls for his 12. Pandya too found the fence only twice from overs 9-15, a six off Aiden Markram and a crisp on-drive off Malik for four.
Even gentle nicks off the J&K pacer’s thunderbolts were flying past slip, swelling his economy rate to almost 10 that didn’t do justice to the impact his pace made.
At 118/4 with five overs to go, it needed Abhinav Manohar and his charmed life—he was dropped thrice in his 21-ball 35—to inject late momentum into the innings. It didn’t help that Rahul Tewatia, whose threeball knock comprising two sixes gifted GT an unlikely win in their previous game, faced the exact number of deliveries yet again. Tewatia found one boundary in them while Pandya had none in the final stretch.
Brief scores: GT 162/7 (H Pandya 50*; T Natarajan 2/34). SRH 168/2 in 19.1 overs (K Williamson 57, A Sharma 42). SRH won by eight wickets.