Vintage Yuvraj Singh steers Sunrisers Hyderabad to victory over RCB

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SCORECARD

SRH – 207/4 (20 overs)

RCB – 172/10 (19.4 overs)

The stage of this year’s IPL was set to begin exactly from where it has ended a year ago. Last year’s finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Banglore were up against each other again. The match followed almost the same script it had unfolded last time when these two teams met. Sunrisers Hyderabad once again posted a massive score of over 200 plus runs and they defended it with relative ease after an initial scare by the Banglore’s boys.

SRH started their campaign in style by defeating RCB by 35 runs in the opening game of Vivo IPL 2017. RCB skipper Shane Watson won the toss and asked Hyderabad to bat first. Riding on the fiery knocks of Yuvraj Singh (62 runs off 27 balls) and  Moises Henriques ( 52 runs off 37 balls), SRH went on to post their second highest ever total in the IPL. They scored 207 runs in 20 overs which is just one run less than what they scored in the last year’s final. Banglore got off to a flying start while chasing the total and raced off to 43 runs in four overs courtesy Chris Gayle. But despite the strong start Banglore failed to chase the target and fell short by a margin of 35 runs. They got all out for 172 runs in 19.4 overs.

They were clearly missing their two best batsmen Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers who are the backbone of their batting line-up. Hyderabad was also without their star bowler Mustafizur Rehman but they did not miss him as they found a new hero in leg-spinner Rashid Khan who had a decent IPL debut by picking up two important wickets.

Royal Challengers Banglore decided to go with three left-arm quick bowlers but the left arm batting firepower proved too hot for them to handle. Batting first SRH got off to a quick start but David warner got out just as the partnership was starting to build. Dhawan made an impressive 40 runs with a healthy strike rate before perishing to Stuart Binny. Things started to get worse for Banglore when Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques got together in the middle. Srinath Aravind gave Yuvraj Singh a life when he dropped a sitter at the square leg boundary.

Things started to get worse for Banglore when Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques got together in the middle. Srinath Aravind gave Yuvraj a life when he dropped a sitter at the square leg boundary. After that, it was pure carnage. The vintage southpaw was at his fluent best and smashed RCB bowlers to all parts of the ground. He went on to score the fastest IPL fifty of his career off 23 balls. In his innings of 62 runs, the stylish left-hander hit seven fours and three huge sixes. Ben cutting wasn’t too far behind. He made sure with his clean hitting that the momentum isn’t stalled. He ended up with 52 runs off 37 balls which included 3 fours and 2 sixes.  The pair added 58 runs in just 4.5 overs which were instrumental in pushing the total beyond 200.

 
Chasing the target of 208 runs RCB got off to a great start. Mandeep Singh opened with Chris Gayle in the absence of Virat Kohli. Mandeep hit five crisp boundaries in his short but entertaining stay of 16 balls in which he scored 24 runs. Chris Gayle had too started to grow dangerous and plundered 3 monstrous sixes on his way to 32 runs.

Just when it seemed that RCB will make a match of it, Hyderabad bowlers out the brakes on. Ben Cutting bowled a brilliant tight over which yielded just 5 runs. It was an over which had everything – a bouncer,  an off cutter and a yorker. The sanity was back on. The counterattack from Banglore openers forced David Warner to bring the debutant Rashid in the first six overs. Rashid had bowled just one over in his entire career inside the power plays prior to this match. But the talented leg spinner rose to the occasion. He struck first blood when he bowled Mandeep Singh with a straight one. After that, Warner surprised everyone by bringing on part-timer Deepak Hooda. Though it was a well-planned move keeping in mind how Gayle had perished to the off-spin of Joe Root in the T20 world cup final. The move worked immediately after Gayle was caught deep on the long-off boundary trying to hit second six of the over.

Kedar Jadhav and Travis Head rejuvenated Banglore and kept the hope alive with their 56 run stand in 5.1 overs. The turning point of the match came when Kedar Jadhav tried to take a risky second run but found himself short of the crease as Cutting got him out with a direct hit. This derailed the chase and RCB could never recover after that. They kept losing wickets at regular interval with Watson alone tried to get them over the line but ultimately failed to do so. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Ashish Nehra came back for their second spell and completed the formalities by quickly wrapping up Banglore’s innings.

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