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Shikhar Dhawan guides Sunrisers Hyderabad to 5-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in IPL 2016 Match 34 at Hyderabad

The GL bowlers did a good job to take the match to the final over but Shikhar Dhawan's knock helped SRH win by 5 wickets in IPL 9 Match 34.

Shikhar Dhawan scored 47 not out to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad to another win © AFP
Shikhar Dhawan scored 47 not out to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad to another win © AFP

Shikhar Dhawan scored a responsible 47 not out to guide Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) home to a tense 5-wicket win over Gujarat Lions (GL) in Match 34 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at Hyderabad. David Warner got SRH off to a fluent start but his dismissal brought about a lull in scoring. Kane Williamson, Moises Henriques, and Yuvraj Singh played slow innings which made life difficult for SRH, but Dhawan’s calming influence and an enterprising knock from Deepak Hooda helped take the hosts over the line. Full Cricket Scorecard: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Gujarat Lions, IPL 2016, Match 34 at Hyderabad

Warner was up and running in his usual brutal fashion, smashing 1 four and 2 sixes in his 17-ball 24 before mis-hitting one from the ever-impressive Dhawal Kulkarni to Praveen Kumar. Williamson was out driving uppishly to Dwayne Smith off Praveen for 6 off 9 balls which added the pressure on to SRH. Henriques then came in and played a watchful innings. The Australian all-rounder faced 16 balls for his 14 and hit 2 fours, but gloved Dwayne Bravo to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik after putting on a useful 22 runs with Dhawan. At 55 for 3 things looked a bit tough for SRH. Full Cricket Blog: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Gujarat Lions, IPL 2016, Match 34 at Hyderabad

Comeback man Yuvraj looked rusty with the bat. He managed to get a couple of balls off the middle of the bat but he was unable to find the gaps. The pressure eventually got to him, and Yuvraj ended up driving Kulkarni to Pradeep Sangwan in the deep for 5 from 14 balls. However, by this point Dhawan had started finding his feet and was going well at the other end.

Hooda, batting at No. 6, played a brief but important innings. He ran well and hit a couple of boundaries as well, but ended up gloving one from Bravo down the leg side to be caught behind for 18 off 12 balls. It was almost an identical dismissal to that of Henriques earlier on. Through all this Dhawan kept chugging along. New man Naman Ojha ensured there were no last-minute surprises for SRH, as the hosts ended up winning by 5 wickets with an over to spare. It was GL’s third successive defeat.

Earlier, Aaron Finch scored an invaluable 51 not out from an unfamiliar No. 5 position to help take GL to a mediovre 126 for 6. It took 14 balls for GL to score their first runs on the day, and things did not get much easier after that. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashish Nehra started off with maiden overs apiece, which made the GL openers Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum understandably jittery. Bhuvneshwar was probing with his line and managed to get the ball to move enough to make Smith jump to his tunes in the first couple of overs. Having scored a laboured 1 run, Smith edged Bhuvneshwar to Mustafizur Rahman at short third man to leave GL at 2 for 1.

GL skipper Suresh Raina, batting at No. 3, decided to fight fire with fire. He hit Ashish Nehra for a six — GL’s first boundary, which came off the final ball of the fourth over — and later struck Bhuvneshwar for a six and a four off successive balls, but Bhuvneshwar got his revenge when Raina hit one back to him. Raina was out for a 10-ball 20 and GL were now 24 for 2 after 5 oves.

Mustafizur Rahman ought to have struck with his first ball, but Shikhar Dhawan tumbled while taking the catch of Brendon McCullum and the ball ended up popping out of his hands. However, Mustafizur did not have to wait long, as Dinesh Karthik was soon out edging to Kane Williamson at backward point. It was a sensational catch from Williamson, diving to his left to take a one-handed stunner. Williamson was not sure about the legitimacy of the catch, but the third umpire confirmed that it was indeed a clean grab. GL had slid to 25 for 3 in the sixth over.

McCullum had by now faced a lot of balls without finding the fence once. That frustration came to a head when he tried to step out and heave Moises Henriques over the ropes only to hole out to David Warner. McCullum had scored a mere 7 off 19 balls with no fours or sixes, and GL were now 34 for 4 in the eighth over.

A brief period of stability followed for GL, with Aaron Finch and Dwayne Bravo doing their utmost to keep the runs flowing. However, the SRH bowlers were on another plane. Barinder Sran, Yuvraj Singh, and Henriques did an admirable job of keeping the runs down, and combined to bowl 8 overs for an appreicable 61 runs while taking 2 wickets as well among them.

Aaron Finch scored an excellent half-century — reaching his landmark off the final ball of the innings — but it was again a disappointing batting performance from GL once their openers failed to get going. The standout bowlers for SRH were Bhuvneshwar and Mustafizur, but Nehra had done his bit as well.

Brief scores:

Gujarat Lions 126 for 6 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 51*; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2 for 28, Mustafizur Rahman 2 for 17) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 129 for 5 in 19 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 47*; Dhawal Kulkarni 2 for 17, Dwayne Bravo 2 for 14) by 5 wickets.

Man of the Match: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Full Scorecard

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(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is an animal lover and comic, film and TV geek. A fast bowler at heart, he loves watching a good, low-scoring game of cricket. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)

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