Ashok Dinda’s three-for helps Rising Pune Supergiants pip Sunrisers Hyderabad by 34 runs in IPL 2016

Rising Pune Supergiants jump ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore to No. 6 in the points table.

Rising Pune Supergiants’ (RPS)  bowlers put up a stellar performance to edge past Sunrisers Hyderabad by 34 runs (DL method) in Match 22 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016. Earlier, RPS captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl. As soon as the players were ready to set the roaring Hyderabad on fire, it started drizzling. Despite losing an hour, the game was not reduced and umpires decided to play full 20 overs. Ashok Dinda started the proceedings by making early inroads, as he dismissed SRH captain David Warner on a duck. It was a rare failure for Warner as he has been in an ominous touch this summer. RPS bowlers were right on the money and did not give away easy runs. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) vs Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), IPL 2016, Match 22

The pressure mounted on SRH as they lost 2 wickets in quick succession. While Aditya Tare miscued a short ball to extra cover, Eoin Morgan edged a wide delivery to Dhoni. At the end of the batting Powerplay, SRH were 27 for 3. Despite losing wicket at the other end, Dhawan kept going and put a price on his wicket. He was supported well by Naman Ojha as the duo added 47 runs for the 6th wicket. Yet again, it was Dinda who was in thick of the action, as he castled Ojha with a fullish delivery. Bhuvneshwar Kumar played a 8-ball 21 cameo to scale up the run-rate. Eventually, Shikhar Dhawan gave finishing touches with his 2nd half-century of this season and guided SRH to a paltry 118. Live Cricket Updates: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rising Pune Supergiants, IPL 2016, Match 22 at Hyderabad

Bhuvneshwar continued his stellar performance with the ball as well, as he dismissed in-form Ajinkya Rahane on a duck. Despite SRH bowlers seaming the ball, Faf du Plessis and Steven Smith kept the scoreboard ticking. Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur Rahman tried their best to dismantle RPS batmen’s defence but could not do so, as du Plessis and Smith played with caution to put their team in the driver’s seat. The duo gradually took the SRH bowlers to the cleaners and stitched a match-winning 80 run partnership. However, SRH wrestled back and sent back du Plessis and MS Dhoni in a span of 2 overs. It started raining again and the game was stopped for 15 minutes. Given the match did not resume in time, Duckworth-Lewis method came into play and RPS were declared winners of this rain-affected game. Smith was RPS’ top performer with the bat as he was unbeaten on 46.

While SRH remain at No. 4 in the point tabel, RPS jump ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and are placed at No. 6.

Brief scores:

Rising Pune Supergiants 94/3 (Setevn Smith 46* (36), Faf du Plessis 30 (21); Ashok Dinda 3 for 23, Mitchell Marsh 2 for 14) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 118/8 (Shikhar Dhawan 56* (53), Bhuvneshwar Kumar 21 (8); Henriques 1 for 16; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1 for 17) by 3 wickets (D/L method)

Player of the Match: Ashok Dinda

(Kaustubh S. Mayekar, a reporter at CricketCountry, played cricket at U-16 level. Like his idol Rahul Dravid, he often shadow-practises cricket shots. His Twitter handle is @kaumedy_.)

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