Sunrisers Hyderabad played some delightful cricket in front of their home fans as they defeated Gujarat Lions at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday by five wickets. This is SRH's fifth victory in IPL 2016, and have moved to fourth spot in the standings.
After an impressive performance by SRH bowlers, their batsmen, primarily Shikhar Dhawan, who scored an unbeaten 40-ball 47, played an important role in handing Gujarat Lions their third straight defeat. SRH chased Lions' score of 126 runs with six balls to spare.
David Warner continued his impressive form with the bat, hitting some brilliant sixes during the first few overs. The left-hander was severe on the Gujarat Lions' bowlers. Warner, while going for an aggressive shot, was caught in the mid-on region for 17-ball 24. New batsman Kane Williamson only scored six runs, and was out in the fifth over.
Things were not going according to plan for SRH as they lost Moises Henriques for 14 runs in the 10th over, which brought Yuvraj Singh, playing his first game in IPL 2016, at the crease. With Shikhar and Yuvraj at the batting crease, SRH were favourites to reach the target. However, it was not too easy for the two left-handers to score runs out there in the middle, and Yuvraj was out in the 14th over.
With SRH requiring 46 runs from 37 balls, Shikhar had to shoulder the batting responsibility, along with Deepak Hooda. The duo, without taking much risks, was inching closer to the target as they required 21 runs off 18 balls, but Hooda gloved the ball to the wicket-keeper to make the match interesting.
However, SRH did not lose any more wicket and won the game as Shikhar hit a wonderful boundary in the off-side in the last ball of the 19th over, to defeat the visitors.
Earlier, Gujarat Lions openers -- Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum -- struggled to score runs in the first few overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashish Nehra bowled the first two overs for a maiden. Smith was under pressure and lost his wicket in the third over.
Though Suresh Raina came in and hit a few lusty blows, the skipper was out for 10-ball 20. The GL lost wickets at regular intervals, and were tottering at 34 for four. Dwayne Bravo and Aaron Finch tried their best to build a partnership, and were scoring runs in singles, and an occasional four as well. But Bravo was out in the 15th over. One also needs to applaud the SRH fielders, who were brilliant with their catching as well.
However, Aaron Finch was the only batsman, who looked decent for the Lions, as he played an important innings, scoring 42-ball 51, comprising three fours and one six. Jadeja also contributed with the bat, scoring 18 runs.
It was the seamers, who played a key role for SRH, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mustafizur Rahman stifled the batsmen and picked two wickets each, which restricted the visitors to a paltry score of 126 runs.
The score proved to be too less as SRH batsmen played sensibly to emerge victorious.
