Sunrisers remain afloat with huge win over Capitals
KOLKATA: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) may yet exit IPL13 but it wouldn’t be on the day David Warner turned 34. The houseof-cards act on Saturday, where SRH lost seven wickets for 14 runs, meant Tuesday’s game was a must- win. SRH approached it with one plan: Attack. That Warner would follow the Ironman mantra from an Avengers franchise film was expected. That Wriddhiman Saha would outscore him was perhaps not.
Warner and Saha added 77 in the first six making it the best in the power play in IPL13. This was batting in fifth gear from the innings’ fifth ball from Anrich Nortje which Saha pulled for four. There was a lemon cut in the next over bowled by Kagiso Rabada but the next ball was flicked for four. Playing his first match and that too because SRH decided to alter team dynamics by dropping Jonny Bairstow and retain Jason Holder, Saha was in cruise control thereafter.
The bulk of his 87 (45b; 4x12; 6x2) came from the on-side because Saha was in control of the sweep, pick-up and pull. But there was also a boundary over mid-off after Saha gave Ravichandran Ashwin the charge; a square-drive off Tushar Deshpande which rocketed to the fence giving the point fielder on the circle and third man on the boundary no chance, a punch to the cover boundary, a cheeky steered four and sending Nortje over mid-off that sparkled.
This was Saha’s first half-century since the unbeaten 93 against Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2017 but that is also because the man who scored a century in the 2014 IPL final has been sporadically used by SRH since. If there was one concern for India ahead of the Australia tour where Saha is in the Test squad, it is that he had an injury while batting and Shreevats Goswami kept wicket.
Warner’s 66 (34b; 4x8; 6x2) was his highest of the season. He took 22 off a Kagiso Rabada over with three fours on the offside, a six over long-on and a boundary at mid-on. The SRH skipper ended with two catches and a successful review that dismissed Rishabh Pant.
After 25 IPL games, Rabada went wicket-less, leaking 54. By the time the power play was done, DC’s famed bowling attack had lost rhythm and more and SRH reached 100/0 in 8.4 overs. Such was the onslaught by the openers that even though SRH scored 44 in the last five, they reached 219/2.
DC showed intent by promoting Marcus Stoinis but were never in the chase because they fell to the wiles of Rashid Khan (3/7) after losing early wickets. DC’s third straight loss, by 88 runs, messed up their net run rate and they now face the difficult task of reviving the campaign with games left only against MI and Royal Challengers Bangalore, both above them in the standings.
Brief scores: SRH 219/2 (W Saha 87, D Warner 66, M Pandey 44*). DC 131 all out in 19 ovs (R Pant 36; R Khan 3/7, S Sharma 2/27, T Natarajan 2/26). SRH won by 88 runs.