Sunrisers pull off surprise victory

News

Cricket365
April 5, 2013

Three late wickets from South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn, and three more from Amit Mishra, was enough to see the Sunrisers Hyderabad emerge victorious, against expectations, over the Pune Warriors by 22 runs on Friday.

The hosts batted first and scored a rather average 126 for six, and it was presumed the Warriors would chase that down with ease. But the tricky wicket, combined by some superb bowling from the home duo, reduced the Pune side to 104 all out in the 19th over.

The Sunrisers, featuring one of the weaker batting line-ups in the league even with a fit Shikhar Dhawan, never really got going in front of their home fans, losing wickets at regular intervals after being put in to bat by Angelo Mathews.

The opening stand between Akshath Reddy and Parvith Patel looked promising initially, reaching 37, but once Patel fell for 19, bowled by Ashok Dinda, the wheels wobbled precariously close to coming off for the rest of the knock.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara could only add 15 runs, and it was up to fellow Sri Lankan Thisara Perera to push the score close to something defendable, making 30 off 18 balls. He also struck the only six of the innings, before becoming Dinda's second wicket.

India paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the Pune bowlers in terms of economy, sending down his four overs for under five runs each, and removing Hanuma Vihari in the process.

The Pune knock got off to a decent start, with Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey reaching 36 before the first wicket fell to Perera, who took two overall.

Mishra then struck in rapid succession, as Pandey and Yuvraj Singh both succumbed to his efforts. This left Abhishek Nayar and New Zealander Ross Taylor to rescue the knock.

Both managed to scrape together 19 runs, but the home bowlers, Steyn in particular, made sure to keep the runs tight, and both departed before further runs could be score, Taylor bowled by Ashish Reddy and Nayar bagged by Mishra.

Mathews was the lone battler at the end, but he was left stranded at the non-strikers' end on eight as Steyn removed the last three wickets required in the space of four balls, narrowly missing his hat-trick.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: PA Reddy, Patel, Sangakkara, White, Vihari, T Perera, Ravi Teja, Mishra,Ashish Reddy, Steyn, I Sharma

Pune Warriors: Uthappa, Pandey, Taylor, Yuvraj, Samuels, Mathews, Marsh, Nayar, Kumar, Dinda, R Sharma