Dazzling Yuvraj steers SRH
Indian Premier League 2017
Yuvraj Singh produced a virtuoso performance in the season opener of the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) as the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 35 runs at Hyderabad yesterday.
Chasing an imposing 208-run target, RCB lost wickets at regular intervals and they were eventually bowled out for 172 in the final over of the innings.
Yuvraj, 35, came out to bat at just the perfect time with SRH at 93 for two in the 11th over. He did not take long to find the middle of the bat but was let off in the 13th over - dropped by Sreenath Aravind at square leg of the bowling of Aniketh Chaudhary.
Except that blip, Yuvraj was in complete control. He reached his fifty in 23 balls and made 62 from just 27 balls.
It was his fastest fifty in the IPL having scored two 24-ball fifties in 2014 for RCB.
But yesterday, the all-rounder scored his highest IPL score for SRH against his old team. Earlier, teenage leg-spinner Rashid Khan created history by becoming the first player from the war-torn Afghanistan to play in the IPL.
Rashid was bought by Sunrisers for Rs. 4 crore making him an overnight star in his country.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 207/4 in 20 overs (S. Dhawan 40, M. Henriques 52, Y. Singh 62)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 172 in 19.4 overs (C. Gayle 32, M. Singh 24, T. Head 30, K. Jadhav 31, S. Watson 22, A. Nehra 2/42, B. Kumar 2/27, R. Khan 2/36). Agencies