After rain delayed the start for an hour, Rising Pune Supergiants’ seam bowlers, led by Ashok Dinda, used the fresh Hyderabad surface and generated appreciable lateral movement to reduce Sunrisers Hyderabad to 32 for 5, setting up a crucial 34-run D/L win. In the chase, Faf du Plessis and Steven Smith consolidated the early loss of Ajinkya Rahane, before finding the boundary in every over of the Powerplay to ease Supergiants to their second victory of the season.
With 25 required to win, rain returned to bring a premature end to the game. It was the 18th win by a chasing side in 22 games this season.
Supergiants’ bowlers swung the ball throughout the Powerplay. In the first over, Dinda, making his debut for Supergiants, removed the in-form David Warner with a wide delivery that was cut straight to backward point, eliciting a Christiano Ronaldo-like celebration from the fast bowler. Thereafter, Sunrisers were continually tested against the moving ball. Dinda and Mitchell Marsh, in particular, used the swing on offer to increase the pressure on the batsmen with tight overs.
The pressure of an unproductive Powerplay resulted in loose shots from Aditya Tare and Eoin Morgan, and Sunrisers were soon left to rebuild from 27 for 3. The situation worsened when Deepak Hooda gloved a reverse sweep to MS Dhoni. In the next over, Moises Henriques was strangled down leg and Sunrisers slumped to 32 for 5.
R Ashwin conceded 14 in four straight overs through the middle. Supergiants did not concede a boundary from the sixth over till the 14th. Shikhar Dhawan and Naman Ojha picked off the singles on offer, but the pressure built steadily. Dhawan carried on to post his second fifty of the season, after getting a reprieve in the 15th over, when he was dropped by Ajinkya Rahane at long-off.
That Bhuvneshwar Kumar contributed with an eight-ball 21 meant Sunrisers were able to plunder 37 off the last three overs to finish with 118. Dinda ended with 3 for 23, his second-best figures in the IPL.
Bhuvneshwar gave Sunrisers some hope in the chase with a wicket-maiden in the first over, after having Rahane caught at backward point. However, Smith and du Plessis capitalised on loose bowling, hitting 11 boundaries between them in the next seven overs to all but finish the game. Mustafizur Rahman’s variations, too, were taken apart by Smith’s wristy flicks.
Du Plessis’s fluent knock ended when he edged behind for 30. MS Dhoni, promoted himself to No. 4, but nailed a cut straight to backward point off Ashish Nehra just as the drizzle got too heavy. The players scurried off immediately with Supergiants at 94 for 3, comfortably ahead of the D/L par score of 60.
