IPL 10, Match 53, GL v SRH Review: Sunrisers Hyderabad cruise past the Lions to qualify for playoffs

The qualification was at stake for the Sunrisers Hyderabad when they took on the Gujarat Lions at Kanpur in the last league game for both the sides. The pressure of playing a do or die game did not creep up to the sleeves of the Orange army and they went on to register a clinical win in the game. With the win, they have managed to make it to the playoffs. At one stage in the game, it looked like the Lions were going to play the party spoilers.

The defending champions did a great job to be back in the game and restricted the opposition to 154, which was chasable. Earlier in the game, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to field first. Yuvraj Singh was not fit for the game and Vijay Shankar got an extended game to his name. The Gujarat Lions gave Munaf Patel another game at the expense of Dhawal Kulkarni.

Gujarat Lions openers Dwayne Smith and Ishan Kishan opened the innings as Bhuvneshwar Kumar shared the new ball with Mohammad Siraj. Both batsmen managed to see the opposition bowlers through in the initial overs and negated any assistance that they got in the game. They soon shifted the gears and added 61 runs on the board in the powerplay.

It was only a matter of time that both players raced past their respective fifties as well. The partnership was eventually broken in the 11th over when Smith was caught lbw by Rashid Khan. He scored 54 off just 33 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. An over later, Kishan edged one to Naman Ojha off the bowling of Mohammad Siraj to make the long walk back to the pavilion.

What followed next was a total batting collapse. From a stage of being 111 for no loss to being bundled out for 154 needed some poor batting. The Lions did exactly that. Take no credit away from SRH bowlers though. Mohammad Siraj was the pick of the bowlers with 4/32 to his name as the opposition posted 154 in 19.2 overs. Barring the openers, only Ravindra Jadeja got into double digits in the match.

In the run chase, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were ably guided by their skipper David Warner. Warner walked in to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan. The two openers had a decent start but Dhawan perished in the third over after having put 20 runs on the board for the first wicket. Praveen Kumar bowled exceptionally with the new ball. He dismissed Dhawan on 18 after the southpaw had hit four boundaries first up.

Moises Henriques was the new man in at the crease. His stay was cut short on 4 in the very same over by Praveen Kumar. PK finished with figures of 2/22 in his allotted 4 overs on the day. Tamil Nadu batsman Vijay Shankar was promoted up the order. The proceedings that followed in the game was all about the SRH batsmen. Warner and Vijay Shankar helped the Sunrisers cruise past the target after a point of being on 25/2.

The two batsmen added an unbeaten 133 run stand for the third wicket to help SRH win the match by 8 wickets in 18.1 overs. Both batsmen scored fifties. Warner finished with an unbeaten 69 off 52 balls with 9 fours to his name. Vijay Shankar played a magnificent knock of unbeaten 63 off 44 balls with 9 fours to his name. With the win, Sunrisers Hyderabad now become the second team to qualify for the playoffs.

Brief Scores:

Gujarat Lions 154/10 in 19.2 overs (Kishan 61, Smith 54, Siraj 4/32, Rashid 3/34)

Sunrisers Hyderabad 158/2 in 18.1 overs (Warner 69*, Shankar 63*, Praveen 2/22)

Check out full scorecard here

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