The Sunrisers Hyderabad brought out their bowling prowess to knock out the Rajasthan Royals cold in their IPL 2014 match in Ahmedabad on Thursday night.
SRH looked to be headed to their fifth defeat in seven games, managing just 134 for nine in their 20 overs, with Shane Watson picking up a hat-trick, while the highlight of the first innings was a ridiculous run out of Amit Mishra.
Rajasthan Royals' reply, though, was poor, with RR crashing to 102 all out in 19.5 overs, as SRH eventually romped home by 32 runs.
"I think we misread the wicket today," said RR captain Shane Watson, who chose to bowl first after winning the toss. "The wicket slowed down as the game wore on, making it really difficult for us to bat, and I as the captain take the full blame for that. It is OK we will learn from this and ensure it doesn't happen next time
"I think we bowled extremely well to restrict them to a low score, but their bowlers bowled well in as well. It's always going to be tough against a bowling attack of their quality, so take nothing away from SRH, they bowled extremely well."
Sunrisers captain Shikhar Dhawan, who got his side off to a blazing start, but could not carry on, knew the importance of his side picking up a victory on Thursday to stay in contention for a place in the playoffs, and was delighted to see his bowlers and fielders come to the fore.
"We knew it was not a lot of runs, but I told the boys we needed a victory, and we bowled very well," Dhawan said at the presentation ceremony. "It was a brilliant team effort, the catching was great, it was amazing.
"The wicket had a bit of turn, so it helped out two leg-spinners [Karn Sharma and Amit Mishra], and it was difficult for the batsmen to score runs."
The Sunrisers cannot afford to rely on their bowlers all the time, though, with the batting department needing to put their hands up more often.
"We know out batting needs to improve," Sunrisers all-rounder Irfan Pathan said. "But having said that, this wicket was really difficult to for the batsmen, and we are happy to come away with a convincing victory."
Watch the highlights of the match, including the comical Amit Mishra run out, HERE, HERE or HERE.
