The area under lights at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad was filled with a swarm of flies and moths yesterday.
It was hard to tell though if that or the butterflies in the stomachs of the players were more difficult to contend with as Sunrisers Hyderabad eventually crossed the line as winners over Gujarat Lions by five wickets in a nerve-racking low-scoring game.
Gujarat’s brittle line-up was exposed again, but they showed lot of determination in trying to defend a score of 126, the lowest of their first season in IPL.
They ended up with a third straight defeat and their title challenge badly tarnished.
Gujarat had a fighting half-century from Aaron Finch to thank for as the innings teetered at 34 for four at one stage against the balanced bowling attack of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (two for 28) and the left-armers Mustafizur Rahman (two for 17) and Ashish Nehra.
Finch, along with the all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja, propped up the total with his 51 not out coming from 42 balls with just three boundaries and a six.
When David Warner started off the chase in a flash with a 16-ball 24, it looked like easy pickings for Hyderabad but things started to unravel as Praveen Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni and Dwayne Bravo later hunkered down with a tidy line.
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At 55 for two, Hyderabad were still on course with Shikhar Dhawan determined to return to form having struggled throughout. His uncharacteristic innings of 40-ball 47 kept Hyderabad going despite wickets falling at the other end and adding to the nerves.
It was only when 14 were needed off the final two overs that Dhawan’s wrists came into play as Hyderabad closed down the fractious game with three boundaries in the penultimate over. Dhawan scored two of those. He had only six boundaries in his knock.
Bhuvneshwar was adjudged Man of the Match for his bowling but that came at a price. “I ate three or four insects. It went down the throat,” the player said with a smile in the post-match ceremony.
Both captains also hailed the efforts of Dhawan. His captain Warner thought “it was not a 126 wicket. 150 would have been par”.
He told StarSports: “We lost a couple of wickets early but Shikhar was fantastic for us.”
His counterpart Suresh Raina said: “Last few games, we did not take wickets in the first six overs. We did today, but Shikhar batted well. We just need to be more positive with the batting plan.”
* With agency
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