A magnificent performance from Dale Steyn, who picked up 3-11, and an all-round showing from Thisara Perera helped Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 22-run win over Pune Warriors in their IPL clash in Hyderabad on Friday.
Having posted a lowly total of just 126, Perera, Steyn and Amit Mishra all put in stellar performances to help their side claim a win from their first outing.
Steyn was brutal up front, conceding just four runs from his first two overs, but it was Perera who got the first breakthrough, dismissing Robin Uthappa for 24 off 22.
Uthappa got stuck inside his crease and ended up edging through to the keeper as the Warriors got off to a slow start.
Perera struck again in the ninth over, this time getting rid of Marlon Samuels who looked uncharacteristically out of sorts.
Samuels stayed in his crease and opened the face of the bat to send a flying edge through to Cameron White and the Warriors were looking somewhat shaky at 42 for two.
Mishra then got into the wickets, dismissing Yuvraj Singh and Manish Pandey in quick succession as Pune fumbled their way to 50 for four after 11.2 overs.
Mishra continued his fine exploits and struck again in his final over with Abhishek Nayar miscuing an intended heave over cover with Ishant Sharma taking a simple catch at extra cover, and with 44 needed off 25 balls, the Hyderabad franchise looked to be taking control.
With Ross Taylor and Angelo Mathews at the crease, that chase looked possible, but smart bowling from Ashish Reddy swung the game very much in favour of the Sunrisers.
The bowler dished up a slower ball and Taylor played all around it and he paid the price with his stumps being flattened, leaving the Warriors in the tricky position of needing 40 off 22.
Perera returned to the attack in the 18th over, with Pune still needing 33 runs, and struck again, this time through a more unconventional method.
Mathews hit the ball straight back at Perera, who stuck his hand out in the air and got a finger to it.
Mitchell Marsh had backed up too far to get back in time and the deflection off Mathews’s hand resulted in the Australian being run out.
Steyn, who returned for a second time in the 19th over, did the job he was set to do and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s stumps did cartwheels as the South African struck yet again.
Steyn continued his impetus and struck off the very next ball with Rahul Sharma walking away from the ball and exposing his stumps completely, the South African did the rest and picked up another wicket to put him on a hat-trick.
The world’s number one fast bowler didn’t manage a hat-trick, but he wrapped things up just one ball later by getting Ashok Dinda caught at slip and Pune were all out for 104.
After earlier being put in to bat, the hosts got off to a sluggish start and laboured their way through the first five overs before Ashok Dinda got the breakthrough, dismissing Parthiv Patel for 19.
A slightly fuller ball from Dinda swung just enough to send Patel’s stumps rattling with the batsman forgetting to move his feet completely.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara then strolled out to the middle and managed just 15 off 16 balls before he too was dismissed, beaten by the flight of Rahul Sharma who tossed up a delivery and outfoxed the Sri Lankan.
The Sunrisers looked sluggish at the half-way mark and, at 60 for two, they needed something special in order to rebuild, but Yuvraj Singh had other ideas and opener Akshath Reddy was dismissed for 27, clean bowled as he came charging down the track.
Things continued to fall apart as Marlon Samuels struck to remove Cameron White who tried to hit with the turn, but picked out Mitchell Marsh at deep mid-wicket instead and the hosts slumped to 83 four four after 14.2 overs.
Perera struck a very crafty 30 off 17 to help lift his side somewhat before he become Dinda’s second stick as a full-toss did the job for the bowler.
Perera completely mistimed his shot and ended up hitting straight to long-on for a simple catch and the Sunrisers were still stuttering at 109 for five after 17.5 overs.
The lower order could do very little against the crafty death bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dinda as Pune kept things tidy and restricted the hosts to a low total, which, in the end, proved to be enough.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: PA Reddy, PA Patel (wk), KC Sangakkara (capt), CL White, GH Vihari, NLTC Perera, DB Ravi Teja, A Mishra, A Ashish Reddy, DW Steyn, I Sharma
PUNE WARRIORS: RV Uthappa (wk), MK Pandey, LRPL Taylor, Yuvraj Singh, MN Samuels, AD Mathews (capt), MR Marsh, AM Nayar, B Kumar, AB Dinda, R Sharma
