Hardik Pandya and Abhinav Manohar’s heroics for Gujarat Titans were in vain as Kane Williamson scored a 46-ball 57 to take Sunrisers Hyderabad home.
The Hyderabad franchise built on their maiden win against the Chennai Super Kings in their previous fixture with a clinical victory against Pandya’s undefeated GT. The 2016 champions registered a thumping victory in Monday’s encounter at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Pune, beating the Titans by an eight-wicket margin, chasing down 163, after a spirited bowling performance in the first half of the game.
Sunrisers skipper Williamson snapped out of his patchy form, as he scored an excellent half-century to guide his team home, while Nicholas Pooran finished things off effortlessly, with five balls to spare, as Hyderabad posted their second win of the season after losing their first two games. Thangarasu Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were decisive with the ball, picking up a couple of wickets each to restrict the Titans to 162/7 in 20 overs.
Williamson, who has been under fire for his batting form, won the toss and decided not to do anything unorthodox, putting the Titans into bat. The Sunrisers got off to a terrible start as Bhuvneshwar was struggling with his line, bowling five wides on two separate occasions in the very first over.
However, Shubman Gill could not take advantage of Kumar’s lacklustre first over, as he was dismissed courtesy of a screamer from Rahul Tripathi at cover. The match-up based tactic to bowl Washington Sundar against Matthew Wade and Sai Sudharsan did not work but did not cost a lot of runs either, but the batsmen weren’t able to build on their starts, as both of them were dismissed on either side of the powerplay.
An early entry did not do David Miller any good, as he struggled on his way to a 15-ball 12. His exit brought Pandya and Karnataka sensation Abhinav Manohar to the middle. The latter looked outstanding and played an innings of remarkable control, scoring a 21-ball 35, laden with five boundaries and a maximum, as Hardik played like an anchor, as he reached a mature half-century in 42 balls while his side lost a few wickets towards the end, finally making it to 162/7 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 163, Hyderabad got off to a slow start as Williamson took some time to settle. The same was not true for the in-form Abhishek Sharma, who raced out of the blocks with beautifully timed strokes that sped away to the fence.
Sharma complemented Williamson perfectly, allowing the veteran to settle. He cracked six wonderful boundaries, racing along to 42, before losing his wicket in an untimely fashion. Williamson, once set, was a different batsman. Supported by Tripathi, the Kiwi captain took the Sunrisers to the precipice of victory, even after Rahul suffered an injury that forced him to retire hurt. Accompanied by the destructive Nicholas Pooran, Williamson crossed the 50-run mark, with the Orange Army looking destined for victory.
Williamson, nevertheless, was unable to stick around till the end, throwing his wicket away to a Pandya delivery. Pooran and Aiden Markram then knocked off the remainder of their target, backing up their first win with another good performance, and also knocking the Titans off their perch, as they handed them their first defeat.
Unsurprisingly, Williamson received the MotM award for his match-winning half century, a 46-ball 57, which included two boundaries and four sixes. SRH will be delighted with his return to form after a few concerning games and will be expecting more of the same as they take on Shreyas Iyer’s Kolkata Knight Riders in their next encounter on April 15.
Brief scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad 168 for 2 (Williamson 57, Abhishek 42, Pooran 34*, Pandya 1-27) beat Gujarat Titans 162 for 7 (Pandya 50*, Manohar 35, Natarajan 2-34, Bhuvneshwar 2-37) by eight wickets
