IPL 10: Match 6, Who Said What: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Gujarat Lions

The Sunrisers carried on their winning ways by defeating the Gujarat Lions by 9 wickets to gain another couple of points in the table. The Lions continued their dismal performance in the tournament after losing comprehensively against the home side. David Warner won the toss and elected to field first. Their plans fell into place perfectly as they restricted the visitors to a modest total of 135 runs. The 18-year-old Afghanistan sensation, Rashid Khan justified his price tag and selection in the side by breaking the backbone of the Rajkot-based side.

He picked up the crucial wickets of Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, and Aaron Finch. Rashid gave only 19 runs in four overs at an exceptional economy of 4.75, thus gaining the Purple Cap. The standout batsman for the Gujarat Lions was Dwayne Smith who helped his team post a respectable total with his knock of 37 runs at a strike of 137. He creamed four boundaries and one towering six. Gujarat Lions innings was also supported by cameos from Jason Roy and Dwayne Smith.

It was an Henriques-Warner show in the second innings of the match as the duo from New South Wales ensured a comfortable victory for the Sunrisers with 27 balls to spare. Warner scored a devastating unbeaten knock of 76 off just 45 at a strike rate of 168.8, which was laced with four maximums and six boundaries. He was ably supported by Moises Henriques, who put himself ahead in the race for the Orange Cap with his 39-ball 52*. He hit six boundaries during the course of his innings.  Gujarat Lions were outplayed by Sunrisers in all three departments of the game as their bowling too seemed ineffective. Rashid Khan was adjudged as the man of the match for his exceptional bowling.

Rashid Khan

The 18-year old indicated that his people back home would be elated after watching him bring laurels to the country. The man of the match also suggested that he feels like home with the support from the Hyderabadi crowd. The Afghan believed that he could bamboozle the Gujarati batsmen as they were not picking him up. He concluded by saying that he’d prefer Hyderabadi Biryani over Chicken Afghani tonight.

“It is a wonderful and a positive message for Afghanistan. They love their players out there. I have been getting a lot of support from the people of Hyderabad as well. The coach asked me where I was comfortable bowling but I told them that I would bowl everywhere in whichever the situation the team wanted me to. They bowled me in the powerplay today and I knew that the batsmen weren’t reading me well. I had it in mind to bowl googlies and bowl leg-breaks towards the end.”

David Warner

David Warner seemed elated with his own effort with the bat and also his teammates. He applauded the efforts of the Afghani leggie who has proven to be the X-factor in the Hyderabad bowling lineup. He also indicated that with the return of Mustafizur in the ranks, the balance of the side will upgrade. Warner praised the all-around efforts of Henriques. He concluded by thanking the Hyderabad crowd for showing up.

Fantastic effort by the bowlers. It is one of those surfaces that is dry and the ball comes on nicely. Fantastic effort from Rash and well backed up by Bhuvi and Nehra. Credit to the curator, he is always fantastic with these surfaces. Rashid is a superstar in the making, he adds great dynamic to our team. With Fizz out as well he helps us add balance to our side. I give my bowlers the freedom to go out there and execute their plans. We always plan to minimize the wickets lost and score quickly to boost up the net run-rate. Moises has added a great strike force to our team. He’s done it for us in the past and he’s done it in the BBL as well. A big thank you to our fans too for coming out here.

Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina, after the end of the match, confessed that the batting let them down and also gave credit to the Afghani bowler. Raina also added that bowling in the powerplays has not been up to the mark. He also commended the efforts of Smith and Roy with the bat. The skipper also gave a hint about the return of Jadeja in the upcoming match against Rising Pune Supergiant.

I think we did not have enough runs on the board. They bowled really well, especially the Afghanistan spinner. We haven’t bowled well in the powerplay as well. We were going well before he (Rashid Khan) came in and got three wickets. 135 was never enough on that wicket. We have to rise our bowling and if we don’t do that, we don’t deserve to be in the top four. We have not played him much and that was the difference. Jadeja might come back for the next game and we have some experience coming in with him, especially in our spin bowling department.. Roy played really well and Smithy, batting in the middle order did well.

Sunrisers next task is against Mumbai Indian at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April  12, while Gujrat Lions will lock horns against the Rising Pune Supergiants at Rajkot on April 14.