IPL 2017 | Rashid Khan and David Warner make it two in a row for SRH

After winning their first game against RCB, Hyderabad named an unchanged squad for their match against Gujarat Lions. After suffering a disastrous defeat at the hands of Kolkata, Gujarat made two changes bringing in Basil Thampi and Tejas Baroka to strengthen their bowling attack. Winning the toss, David Warner opted to bowl first but Raina claimed that he would have chosen to bat owing to the fact that the heat would dry up the surface later on in the day. 

Brief scores :  Gujarat Lions 135/7 ( Dwyane Smith 37, Jason Roy 31; Rashid Khan 3/19, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/21) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 140/1 (David Warner 76*, Moises Henriques 52*; Praveen Kumar 1/16) by 9 wickets.

Rashid Khan to the rescue again

After a brilliant first over by Bipul Sharma, where he conceded just three runs, Jason Roy picked up the pace with two boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar to get the Lions’ innings well and truly started. Roy, with Brendon McCullum, took the score to 32 off four overs before Warner introduced the star of the first game, Rashid Khan. The change brought Hyderabad the much-needed breakthrough as the Afghan leggie picked up the former Kiwi captain in his very first over. In the next over, amidst controversy, Roy made his way back to the dressing room, as Gujarat could only manage 40 runs in the powerplay overs. But the Afghan wasn’t done yet as he picked up Aaron Finch and Suresh Raina in his next two overs to restrict the Lions to 60/4 in 10 overs.

Karthik and the Doctor rescue Gujarat

Gujarat’s saviour in the first game, Dinesh Karthik along with Dwayne Smith started the Lions’ rescue effort by building a steady partnership. While Smith donned the enforcer role, Karthik was happy to rotate the strike as the duo, meanwhile, took the score to 110 with four overs left to play. While trying to speed up the run flow, Smith was caught at deep midwicket while slogging Bhuvneshwar and the 56-run partnership came to a crashing end. In the next over, Nehra dismissed Karthik while Dhawal Kulkarni was run out by Rashid Khan. In the last three overs, SRH choked out the Lions’ runs allowing just 22 over the last three and set themselves a modest target of 136.

Warner gets the better of Raina’s spin ploy

Sensing that the wicket was supporting the spinners and knowing Warner’s inability to play off-spin well, Suresh Raina decided to start the bowling with himself but the move backfired as he conceded 21 runs in his second over. Even though Praveen Kumar dismissed Dhawan after the latter mistimed a flick, Warner continued to hit the loose balls for boundaries and along with Moises Henriques, took Hyderabad to 48 for 1 in 5 overs. Both constantly made rooms and smeared boundaries on the off-side without much difficulty until Raina brought Shivil Kaushik and Tejas Baroka to operate from both the ends. Even though the spinners were able to restrict the run flow to a certain extent, Hyderabad still managed to reach the midway point at 89/1.

The winner Warner is back

Warner brought up his fifty in the 12th over hitting Basil Thampi to the backward square leg and soon followed that up with a straight six over long-on to make the game a formality from that point. Despite only 16 runs were required off 42 balls, Warner didn’t try to finish the game in a hurry as he rotated the strike with Henriques to allow the latter to complete his second consecutive fifty. In the 16th over of the game, after Henriques reached his fifty, Warner hit Baroka for a six over long-on to present Hyderabad their second victory of the tournament.