Shikhar Dhawan struck an unbeaten 47 after a clinical display by his bowling team-mates as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Gujarat Lions by five wickets in their IPL match here today.
Chasing 127 for a win, opener Dhawan dropped anchor as he carried his bat through the innings as the Sunrisers chased down the target with six balls to spare at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Dhawan played second fiddle to his batting partners initially before opening up later on to take his side home. He hit six fours in his solid 40-ball unbeaten innings, including the winning shot which was also a boundary as the Sunrisers reached 129 for 5 in 19 overs.
This was after Sunrisers’ bowlers produced a clinical display to restrict the Lions to a meagre 126 for 6 after being put into bat.
Pacers Mustafizur Rahman (2/17) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/28) led an impressive bowling show while Barinder Sran and Moises Henriques took a wicket apiece as the Sunrisers bowlers bowled a disciplined line and length. Senior pacer Ashish Nehra (0/23) and Bhuvneshwar bowled a maiden over each as the Lions took 14 balls to score their first run, the most in IPL history.
Sunrisers though made a heavy weather of a small chase as they lost wickets in regular intervals but Dhawan ensured that the home side notched up their fifth win in eight matches and jumped to the fourth spot in the league table with 10 points.
Yuvraj Singh came out to play his first match this season but disappointed as he could score just five runs off 14 balls. He fell to Kulkarni with Sangwan taking the catch.
The Lions suffered their third loss on the trot — and fourth so far overall — and they remained on the second spot with 12 points from 10 matches. The Sunrisers had beaten the Lions in the first leg also.
Feature image source: IPL