Pune pummel Sunrisers in low-scorer

The Rising Pune Supergiants got their maiden IPL season slightly back on track on Tuesday when they beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets after a long rain delay.

The overs were not reduced as the game started nearly an hour late, and Hyderabad made a right meal of the match. They only managed to score 118 for eight, which Pune nearly chased down with nine overs to spare, when the rain arrived again.

The Sunrisers' run of decent form with the bat came to a screeching halt thanks to Ashok Dinda, who removed David Warner with four balls in the bag.

The wickets tumbled from there and suddenly Hyderabad were five down for 32 runs inside the ninth over. In fact, only one of the top six managed to reach double figures.

That someone was India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who scored nearly half the team's runs. He ended not out on 56 off 53 balls, and was given a modicum of help from the tail.

Naman Ojha's 18 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 21 were the reason they managed to pass 100, and Dinda's three wickets combined with Mitchell Marsh's two, neither going at more than six to the over, were the bowling highlights.

Pune benefited from having Marsh in the line up, thanks to Kevin Pietersen's injury, and his efforts with the ball left the batsmen with little to do.

Ajinkya Rahane was removed in the first over of the chase, leaving Faf du Plessis and Steve Smith to get the runs on the board. They had not need to accelerate, and did a Test-like job of scoring the runs.

South Africa T20 skipper Du Plessis made it till the ninth over before falling, caught behind off the bowling of Moises Henriques for 30. Smith was on 38 at the time and was joined by MS Dhoni for the final stretch.

The skipper was unable to stick around though, and was out for five a few balls later, with the score on 94. Aditya Tare took a super catch at backward point, snatching up the blistering cut shot.

The par score at that point was 60, as the rain arrived and the players were forced to leave the field. At that point, Pune had easily secured victory, the score on 94 for three.

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