Rising to the occasion
Morgan keeps Hyderabad’s hopes alive
Sunrisers Hyderabad kept their play-off hopes alive by pulling off a welldeserved seven-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in a rousing Indian Premier League (IPL) contest that went to the wire at the Brabourne Stadium here yesterday.
Riding on contrasting fifties from Shikhar Dhawan (54) and Eoin Morgan (68 off 28 balls), Sunrisers posted a mammoth 201 for 4 in their 20 overs.
Chasing the formidable target, Royals lost in-form batsman Ajinkya Rahane (8) cheaply, but a superb innings of 68 from Steve Smith brought them back in contention.
And then a late-order flourish from James Faulkner (30), Sanju Samson (21) and Chris Morris (34 not out) brought the hosts within touching distance of victory, which was not to be. Defeat denied Rajasthan the chance to climb back to the top of the standings.
Morris threatened to take the game away with a flurry of three sixes in the 19th over bowled by Praveen Kumar (0-40), before Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-44) stopped Royals short in the last over, from which they needed 18 runs.
This was Sunrisers’ fifth victory in 10 games, which took them to ten points and kept their hopes alive, while Royals suffered their fourth loss in 12 games and have not yet booked their final-four berth.
Slog-sweep
Put in to bat, Sunrisers were off to a fine start with Dhawan and captain David Warner (24) stitching together a 48-run stand. It got broken in the fifth over, when Warner edged his compatriot and opposite number Shane Watson (236) to wicketkeeper Samson.
Another useful partnership of 41 followed between Dhawan, who made his third half century of the competition and second against Sunrisers, and No. 3 Moises Henriques (20).
It was nipped by leg spinner Pravin Tambe (1-32), who cleaned up the Australian all-rounder while he attempted a big heave.
Morgan hit Watson for a huge six before Dhawan slog-swept offspinner Deepak Hooda (0-34) over the ropes to raise his 50 in 33 balls, while the team total swelled by 14 runs in that over.
But Dhawan attempted an ambitious reverse sweep off James Faulkner (1-37) soon afterwards and was castled after adding 38 runs with Morgan.
Irish-born Morgan was joined by Ravi Bopara and went on the offensive in the last five overs, during which the score rattled along.
Kolkata Knight Riders gave their play-off hopes a major boost with a hard-earned 13-run victory over Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Eden Gardens here last night.
Chasing a testing 172 for victory, struggling Delhi tried their hardest to keep wickets in hand in the chase, but scoreboard pressure led to them collapsing from 63 for no wicket to 111 for five in the 16th over.
Angelo Mathews (22 off 15 balls) and Saurabh Tiwary (24 not out off 15) put on 32 to give the Daredevils hope, but the hosts defended their total expertly.
Piyush Chawla was the star with the ball for Kolkata as he took four for 32, including the key wickets of Daredevils captain J.P. Duminy (25) and Yuvraj Singh for a duck.
Andre Russell gave away just 24 runs from his four overs, taking one wicket, while Sunil Narine bowled four wicketless overs for 30 on his return to the side.
Earlier, Kolkata rode on Yusuf Pathan’s 42 from 24 balls to post a competitive 171 for seven.
Botha blast
Pathan once again held KKR’s innings together, striking three fours and three sixes even though Delhi picked up wickets at regular intervals.
Imran Tahir (2-46) dismissed Pathan in the penultimate over of the innings, but Johan Botha blasted 17 from five balls in the last over to fire up the total after the Knight Riders elected to bat for the first time this season.
Playing with an extra bowler after Narine got clearance to play, a relieved Kolkata rejigged their batting order and sent Chawla in at No. 4.
The leg-spinner looked unconvincing but his cameo of 22 from 19 balls kept the run-rate ticking, even as Amit Mishra bowled a tight spell, conceding two runs with one wicket from his first two overs.
Chawla almost fell on the wickets after losing his balance trying to get away a Mathews bouncer. The Daredevils were severely let down by their fielding as Robin Uthappa benefited the most after being dropped twice during his 31-ball 32. On both occasions, the ball slipped in between the fielders’ hands.
Manoj Tiwary let one slip over the boundary when Uthappa was on 15, while Yuvraj, who was employed at short midwicket, dropped a sitter when the opener was on 23.
Gautam Gambhir (12) had given KKR a typical flying start by putting on 38 runs with Uthappa from 4.3 overs, before Zaheer Khan gave Delhi a first breakthrough by inducing an outside edge from the skipper.
Aided by the two reprieves, Uthappa and Ishwar Pandey (22) capitalised on the start as Kolkata coasted to 50 for one from six overs before Mishra put the brakes on the run-rate.
The Knight Riders found their rhythm again though and ultimately came out on top to jump to third place in the standings.