Sunrisers Hyderabad had finally made it to the top four as they crushed Rajasthan Royals at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Friday. It was some brilliant bowling from the duo of Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra which allowed Sunrisers to comeback in this match very strongly. But the unsung hero of this match was Thisara Perera who got the wickets of Shane Watson and Stuart Binny in quick succession which sealed the fate of the match. Earlier, it was some sensational bowling from James Faulkner, who bagged five wickets, that restricted Hyderabad from posting a big total.
Here we bring to you the heroes and the zeroes from the match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
HITS
Amit Mishra: Mishra did some brilliant bowling and ended up with the figures of 2/8 in his four overs. He was just too good for RR batsmen and kept deceiving them quite brilliantly with his wrong ones.
Biplab Samantray: He smacked off 55 runs off 46 balls, inclding six fours and one six. He steadied the innings for Sunrisers and took them to a respectable total of 136.
Dale Steyn: Steyn was brilliant with the bowl. He got the wickets of Kevon Cooper and Brad Hodge at the crucial junctures of the match which tilted the scale in Sunrisers favour. He ended up the bowling figures of 2/17 in his four overs.
Rahul Dravid: Dravid gave Rajasthan Royals a good start but unfortunately got run-out after scoring 25 runs. He did his job pretty well both as a batsmen as well as captain but wasn’t good enough to win this match.
James Faulkner: Faulkner was absolutely stunning with the ball as he dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel in his first over and later he took the wickets of Biplab Samantray and Dale Steyn in his final over. He ended up with the figures of 5/16 in his four overs.
Thisara Perera: Perera got the wickets of Stuart Binny and Shane Watson at a crucial time which ensured the victory for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He ended up with the figures of 2/25 in his three overs. He also contributed with the bat as he scored 17 runs off jut 13 balls that he faced.
Darren Sammy: Sammy scored 23 runs off 19 balls as he smashed one four and one six in his short stay at the crease.
Siddharth Trivedi: Trivedi bowled really well as he gave away just 20 runs in his four overs. He took the crucial wicket of Hanuma Vihari who departed after scoring 19 runs.
FLOPS
Brad Hodge: Hodge got dismissed after scoring eight runs off just seven balls. He could have made the difference in this match but that didn’t happen and he ended up on losing side.
Kevon Cooper: He was getting smashed for fours and sixes quite frequently in his four overs. He gave away 39 runs in his four overs and went wicket-less. Though he did well in batting, he played a cameo of 26 off just 12 balls.
Cameron White: White turned out to be the biggest disappointment when it came to batting. He got out for a duck of the very first ball that he faced. He was tested by the short ball which he mistimed it and was caught at fine-leg.
Stuart Binny: Binny had a forgettable day on the field as he got out after scoring just run-a-ball eight runs. First he got smacked for nine runs in his one over that he bowled and then the batting failure.
Shikhar Dhawan: Dhawan went back to dug-out after scoring just one run. James Faulkner got him out as the ball took a good part of the upper half of the bat and went straight to the point fielder.
Parthiv Patel: Patel got out at the score of two runs after facing six balls. He was undone by James Faulkner as the ball took the edge of his bat and crushed the timber.
Sanju Samson: Samson tasted another failure as he got dismissed after scoring just five runs off seven balls. He played a lofted shot which was not very well timed and was caught at the long-off.
By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network