IPL 2017 | ‘Disciplined’ Sunrisers beat ‘depleted’ Bangalore in the tournament opener

04/05/2017

Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad have gotten their campaign off to a perfect start by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in the opening encounter. Earlier, put into bat, Hyderabad scored 207/4, aided by half-centuries from Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 207/4 ( Yuvraj Singh 62, Moises Henriques 52, Stuart Binny 1/10, Yuzvendra Chahal 1/22 ) won by 35 runs Royal Challengers Bangalore 172/10 ( Chris Gayle 32, Kedar Jadhav 31, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/27, Rashid Khan 2/36)

The tenth edition of the tournament got off to a glamourous start with four Indian cricketing greats - Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, and Virender Sehwag being felicitated by the BCCI in Hyderabad. Even before a single delivery was bowled, the game had already lost some of its charm due to the absence of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, KL Rahul, and Mustafizur Rahman. But the IPL, as it does every year, with no quarters given and none taken, provided all the entertainment it promises.

Dhawan and Henriques settle Sunrisers after Warner dismissal

As a reminiscent of last year, where chasing became the winning formula, RCB’s stand-in skipper Shane Watson chose to field-first after winning the toss. The wicket provided decent bounce to the pacers, which was used to great effect by debutant pacer Aniket Choudhary and 12 crore man Tymal Mills. But it was the former who struck first dismissing the dangerous David Warner for just 14. Shikhar Dhawan and Moises Henriques picked up the threads by taking SRH to 59 for 1 at the end of the powerplay overs but their 74-run partnership came to an end when a Dhawan mishit was pounced on by Sachin Baby at long-on.

Yuvraj and Henriques’ pyrotechnics propel Sunrisers to 207

Dhawan’s dismissal paved the way for Yuvraj Singh to join the Aussie at the crease, and the 35-year-old made his intent clear right from the outset, smashing three fours and a six in just five balls racing to 24 off just 9 deliveries. But with the aggressive strokeplay came an element of risk as well but Sreenath Aravind made a complete mess a catch and Yuvraj didn’t look back from then. Henriques, too, kept chipping in with the runs and despite batting in the shadows of his partners, hit the first half-century of the tournament, Yuzvendra Chahal picked him up in the 16th over. However, by then SRH had already accumulated over 150 runs. Yuvraj brought up his half century as well but was sent packing in the 19th over when Mills breached his defence to end a brilliant innings at 62. Ben Cutting played his part in the last over smashing Shane Watson for 16 runs to hand RCB a target of 208 runs.

Jadhav and Head seize the initiative after Mandeep-Gayle start

With the odds stacked against them, having to chase their highest ever total, Bangalore, surprisingly, got off to a good start, with openers Chris Gayle and Mandeep Singh hitting the pacers with absolute disdain. It was the introduction of Afghanistan teenage sensation Rashid Khan, in the sixth over, whose wrong un’ that Mandeep Singh failed to pick sent the Indian back to the hut. In the very next over, Baroda offie Deepak Hooda set the Hyderabad crown into a frenzy by picking the all-important wicket of Gayle. The two new batsmen at the crease, Kedar Jadhav and Travis Head, took their time settling down but started putting the loose balls away as they got accustomed to the pace of the wicket. At the end of 10 overs, RCB appeared to be on course having scored 98 runs - the exact number that SRH had put on the scoreboard.

Nehra and co. finish off RCB

However, in an ironic turn of events, Kedar Jadhav, who missed a run out opportunity in the SRH innings, was run out thanks to a sensational throw by Ben Cutting from the deep. Two overs later the scorecard painted a completely different picture with Head and Sachin Baby back in the dressing room and the score reading 130/5 after 14 overs. After that, it never looked like RCB would recover as they kept losing wickets on regular occasions thanks to some brilliant death bowling by Nehra and co. RCB were eventually put out of their misery in the last over when Chris Jordan's direct hit secured a 35 run victory for Hyderabad.