The matchup between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiant wasn’t about directly clinching a playoff berth. But, while for the Sunrisers it was about regaining lost ground, for the Supergiant, it was about making up for lost time as both teams vied for establishing their place right at the top of the teams’ leader-board.
Given that the Sunrisers boasted of a win-to-loss record of 5-0 when playing at home at the IPL this year, the hosts went in as the favourites. But the Supergiant had an altogether different story to tell and they went on to do so, with aplomb.
Batting first, the Supergiant posted 148/8 in their allotted 20 overs, with Ben Stokes top-scoring with 39 runs, and Steve Smith and MS Dhoni chipping in with 34 and 31 runs respectively. Siddharth Kaul picked 3/29 in his four overs, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan picking 2/39 and 1/18 in their four overs respectively.
Needing 149 runs to win, the Sunrisers did start strongly, but lost their way thoroughly as the match tightened its course towards the end. David Warner was the top-scorer for the Sunrisers with 40 runs, while the Supergiant’s bowling unit performed sublimely as a complete unit to give the team a 12-run win over the Sunrisers.
David Warner’s ploy: Win the toss and bowl first
They made late inroads into the cut-and-thrust of the IPL, but when they did so, the Rising Pune Supergiant used the veritable might of their batting to chase down targets comfortably. It wasn’t then least surprising when, after winning the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s captain David Warner, sought to change this trend by electing to field first after winning the toss.
Warner’s decision worked well as his bowlers kept the harness on Pune’s batsmen, by leashing their boundaries and forcing them to look for singles and two’s. The entirety of the batting powerplay had just the one six that Ajinkya Rahane hit off Moises Henriques in the final over of the powerplay, who replaced Ashish Nehra who developed back spasms.
The Sunrisers’ bowling order continued to dominate, except for the brief flashes when they were put on the back-foot by Ben Stokes and MS Dhoni. It also then worked in the Sunrisers’ favour as the Supergiant’s batsmen came under pressure and in their keenness to search for boundaries, lost their wicket due to their urgency.
This aspect, in turn, also brought out the fact that while the Supergiant are, indeed, able to come up with successful run-chases, they aren’t able to come up with similarly convincing performances when they are made to bat first. And seeking to go up the IPL team standing as they are, this is one loophole they need to address right away.
What is ailing Ajinkya Rahane?
If the Supergiant have had been eagerly waiting for a player to finally stand up and deliver in their last few matches, it’s been Ajinkya Rahane. While Tripathi has gone about his business at the top of the team’s batting order, Rahane’s quietness has started to get worrying especially as the Supergiant are closer to making a potential cut into the playoffs.
As Rahane and Steve Smith put together a 33-run partnership for the second wicket, with the 28-year-old steering the innings as the more settled partner on the field, it did feel as though he had finally turned a corner. However, all hopes about his revival became pipe dreams as he lofted the ball, and his wicket, to return back to the dugout. Suffice to say then that both Rahane and the Supergiant have a lot to consider and weigh in, before this bad run costs them too heavily in the business end of the tournament.
Are the Supergiant’s bowlers understated?
The Supergiant’s bowlers, too, were similarly burdened when they came out to restore the order their batsmen had left askew in the first innings.
And, while they were not as regimented as the Sunrisers’ bowlers in controlling fours and sixes, it was, indeed, a commendable effort from the visitors’ bowling lineup. There again, it was Stokes who led the showing, nipping the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson in his first over itself, before picking Warner as his third victim.
Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur, Daniel Christian and Washington Sundar were then effective complements for Stokes’ potency, as they stemmed run-flow leaving the Sunrisers gasping. While the trio of Thakur, Christian and Sundar didn’t pick any wickets for their bowling efforts, Tahir got the wicket of Yuvraj Singh, which completely threw the Sunrisers’ run-chase into disarray.
It was, however, Jaidev Unadkat who wrecked the biggest havoc upon the Sunrisers’ batting order, picking a hattrick and a 5/30 in his four overs. Unadkat picked a hattrick maiden in the last over of the Sunrisers’ batting innings, even as the batsmen at the crease tried futilely waving their bats around in the hopes that it would connect and crossover for a six.
Looking back at the match then, it was quite fitting that it ended the way it had begun, with bowlers making a statement more than the batsmen in what’s become the latter’s paradise in the sport.