Internet Desk: Rising Pune Supergiants registered their second win in VIVO IPL 2016 when they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad in a truncated match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. After opting to field first on a pitch that had some juice in it for the bowlers, the visitors’ bowlers bowled disciplined lines and lengths and restricted the home side to a modest 118-8. Steve Smith then piloted the run-chase before rains brought a premature end to the match; RPS were in cruise mode and were 94-3 after eleven overs, at a point when the DL par score was calculated to be 60.
Earlier in the evening, hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad, put in to bat, got off to a poor start losing their captain David Warner to the fourth ball of the match. The left-hander threw his bat at a wide delivery from Ashok Dinda but hit it straight to Ajinkya Rahane at backward point.
Poor shot selection thereafter, especially from the rest of the specialist batsmen, and some extremely disciplined bowling from the visitors, meant the home side crawled to 27 for 3 at the end of the Powerplay period and slumped to 32 for 5 in the ninth over. A 47-run partnership between opener Shikhar Dhawan, who held up his end all the while, and Naman Ojha, kept the visitors at bay for more than eight overs. Ojha (18 from 21 balls) was dismissed in the 17th over when he too attempted an ambitious stroke without any footwork – only to see his stumps rattled.
SRH got past the 100-run mark in the 19th over, and eventually finished their 20 overs at 118-8. They had to thank the opening batsman Shikhar, who scored a cautious half-century, and a cameo from Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the last two overs of the innings. Shikhar, who brought up his half-century off 48 balls, remained unbeaten on 56, made from 53 balls. That there were only six fours hit in the innings (2 by Shikhar, 1 by Aditya Tare and 3 by Bhuvneshwar) and only three sixes illustrates how poor the home side were with the bat.
For Rising Pune Supergiants, whose bowlers have struggled thus far, it was a different tale on the day. The bowling unit was magnificent and hunted as a pack; Ashok Dinda celebrated his maiden outing this season, picking up three wickets for 23 runs. Mitchell Marsh operated his wicket-to-wicket line and returned with figures of 2-14, while R Ashwin (who picked up his second wicket of the season with the first ball he bowled on the day) and Thisara Perera chipped in with a wicket each. The RPS skipper MS Dhoni had a field day behind the stumps, picking up three catches.
There was a bit of a hiccup at the start of RPS’ run-chase when they lost Ajinkya Rahane, who holed out to Eoin Morgan at point in the first over. But Faf du Plessis and Steve Smith resurrected the innings immediately with an 80-run partnership they built in 8.2 overs.
Though du Plessis was dismissed at the start of the tenth over and Dhoni perished at the end of eleventh over before the skies opened up again, the frenetic pace at which du Plessis and Smith scored the runs ensured that RPS were ahead of the par score worked out according to the DLS Method. RPS needed to be 60 after eleven overs with three wickets down, but were way ahead at 94-3. Play could not resume by the cutoff time, and therefore RPS were declared victors. Smith remained unbeaten on 46, made from 36 balls, which included seven boundaries.