Cameos light up Brabourne
Steve Smith takes Royals close, but Eoin Morgan’s 28-ball 63 wins Sunrisers the match
MUMBAI: England binds and separates Steve Smith and Eoin Morgan. The two had at one stage of their lives pondered about their cricket future in England. But while Smith, whose mother is English, chose to play for Australia, Morgan left Ireland for greener pastures in England.
The protagonists of this story were the ones who grabbed all the attention on Thursday at the Brabourne stadium as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Rajasthan Royals by seven runs.
Morgan was the star of the first half and went on to become the hero of the match as he ended on the winning side. Coming in at four, the 28-yearold left-hander scorched the Brabourne outfield with some outlandish shots. He scored 63 off 28 balls with four fours and five audacious sixes helping Sunrisers post 201 for four.
Smith, with a quickfire 68, actually made a match out of an otherwise improbable chase. But Smith could not last till the end and with him Royals hopes faded.
Sunrisers surprised with their playing 11. They left out both Dale Steyn and Trent Boult, showing that they wanted all their four overseas players to bolster their batting, and fielded Ishant Sharma to lead their pace attack.
They got a solid start from openers David Warner (24) and Shikhar Dhawan (54). Morgan entered the fray and blasted them past the 200-run mark.
In reply, Rajasthan began on a sticky wicket. They lost their in-form batsman Ajinkya Rahane with the score on eight.
Smith did raise hopes but his wicket knocked the wind out of Rajasthan’s sails. However, the absence of Steyn or Boult meant that Sunrisers failed to close out Rajasthan quickly.
Ishant who returned to IPL action after sitting out in eight games, gave a nervous performance. He stuttered with his first ball, falling over on the follow through. He was used as a stop gap option through the innings and proved largely ineffective.
A few lusty blows in the end by James Faulkner (30), Sanju Samson (21) and Chris Morris (34) stretched the match into the final over.
However with a stiff target, Sunrisers always had their noses in front. And eventually it turned out to be Morgan’s smashing knock that made the difference in the match.
WE LET THEM GET AWAY TOO MUCH INITIALLY, GAVE TOO MANY LOOSE BALLS TO SOME VERY GOOD PLAYERS AND THEY HURT US EARLY ON. OUR FIELDING IS A LITTLE BIT OF CONCERN AS WELL.
STEVE SMITH, Rajasthan Royals batsman