Published: Sep 28, 2013, 05:38 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 28, 2013, 05:38 PM (IST)
David Wiese claimed three wickets for 17 to lead Titans’ comeback © AFP (File photo)
By Devarchit Varma
Sep 28, 2013
Sunrisers Hyderabad found an unlikely hero with the bat in form of Dale Steyn, who clobbered 20 runs off the last over to lift his side to a respectable total of 145 for seven against South African side Titans in their Group B match of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) 2013 tournament at Ranchi on Saturday.
Steyn swatted two sixes and as many boundaries in the last over off Marchant de Lange to help his side add a crucial 21 runs, also including a single off a bye, when they were reeling at 124 for seven at the end of the 19th over of the game.
Earlier in the game, David Wiese led the Titans bowling attack to stage a remarkable comeback after Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel provided the Sunrisers Hyderabad a rollicking start, reaching 60 runs off the first six overs of their game.
Wiese claimed three wickets for 17 runs off his four overs to help his side gain control, after they were punished by the Sunrisers openers at the start of the innings.
Dhawan looked in splendid touch, slamming seven boundaries and a six in the first powerplay to reach 37 off just 20 balls. The crowd present at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium was treated with some splendid hitting by the two left-handed Sunrisers openers. Both Dhawan and Parthiv scored runs with ease to set a platform for a big score in the first innings.
Dhawan and Parthiv had a special liking of the lanky pacer Morne Morkel, off whom they scored 30 runs from his first three overs. The Sunrisers skipper set the tone early on by clobbering two boundaries off Henry Davids in the third over of the innings, and hit two more fours in the next over off Morkel.
Pacer de Lange was welcomed into the attack with 14 runs off his first over — with Dhawan hitting two boundaries and a six off the last ball over the square leg boundary.
In the next over — sixth of the innings — Parthiv shrugged off a slow start and swatted two boundaries off the first two balls of Morne, and ended it with a six over the midwicket boundary to take the scoring rate to 10 an over.
It was then when Wiese was introduced into the attack by Titans’ captain Davids, as riding on his good bowling performance, they managed to pull things back in control. While Dhawan’s innings came to an end when he was caught at the third-man by Morkel off Wiese on the third delivery of the seventh over. Wiese struck on the first ball of his next over to clean up Parthiv. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored 26 off 24 balls during his stay.
Titans, led by Wiese, made an impressive comeback in the game after being outplayed in the first powerplay. Dhawan and Parthiv got out in quick succession, and Sunrisers soon slipped from 60 from no loss in six overs to 86 for four in 12 overs. Only one boundary came in the next six overs as the Indian Premier League (IPL) side lost two more wickets in form of Hanuma Vihari and Biplab Samantray. Vihari fell to Wiese caught by Davids. The skipper affected another dismissal in form of Samantray, stumped on a delivery drifting down the leg side.
The Sunrisers could not recover from the collapse and crossed the 100-run mark only in the 16th over of the innings.
Towards the end, Hyderabad’s star overseas players Thisara Perera and Darren Sammy failed to carry on their rich vein of form and were dismissed for 11 and one respectively.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 145 for 7 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 37, Parthiv Patel 26, Dale Steyn 27*; David Wiese 3 for 17) vs Titans.
Champions League (CLT20) 2013 Match Schedule
Champions League (CLT20) 2013 Points Table
(Devarchit Varma is a reporter with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)
