Smith, Marsh combine to thwart Sunrisers

The match in a tweet: Supergiants romp! The bowlers, led by Dinda and Marsh, derail the Sunrisers before Smith rediscovers his midas touch.

The result:  Hyderabad 8-118 (Dhawan 56no, Kumar 21, Dinda 3-23, Marsh 2-14) lost to Pune 3-94 – 34 runs ahead on D/L par score after 11 overs (Smith 46no, Du Plessis 30)

The hero: Playing his first IPL game this season Ashok Dinda was simply outstanding. Assisted by the moisture on pitch from the rain prior to the game, Dinda consistently hit the right lengths, making the batsmen play on a regular basis. Dinda claimed the prized scalp of David Warner from the fourth ball of the match for duck and then beat Aditya Tare for pace in the very next over.  His opening two-over spell reaped 2-7 with nine dots. Dinda would return at the death to york Naman Ojya for 18 and finish with 3-23 from his four overs on his way to the man of the match award.

The innings:  It was only a matter of time before Steve Smith got into the groove in the IPL. Chasing a modest total of 119, Smith was at ease against in-form seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mustafizur Rahman from the outset.  The Aussie skipper hit Mustafizur for four gorgeous boundaries through the on-side and added a further three fours in knock of 46 from 37. Smith looked certain to complete his half-century before rain intervened but Smith would be delighted to have regained his form and importantly, guide his team to victory.

The support cast:  Given the responsibility of bowling with the new ball, Mitch Marsh swung the ball both ways and prompted his captain to bowl him out before the tenth over. The Aussie allrounder finished with 2-14 from his four overs, including the wicket of England's T20 captain Eoin Morgan for a second-ball duck.

The wicket:  It was probably the worst ball of Dinda’s magical spell but it got the big wicket of Warner. The ball was short, wide and deserved to be carted.  Warner threw the proverbial kitchen sink at it with minimal footwork but the ball flew straight to Ajinkya Rahane, who took a sharp catch. Warner’s wicket had a domino effect on the Sunrisers batting, as they collapsed to 5-32 and failed to recover. 

The catch: MS Dhoni is known for his stumpings but today the Indian skipper turned back the years by diving full stretch to his left to take a beauty.  Moises Henriques played a fine leg-glance off Marsh that proved too fine as Dhoni took a couple of strides to his left and timed his dive perfectly to reel it in.

The consolation effort: Having lost Warner early and the team slumping, much fell on Shikhar Dhawan to dig in – and he did exactly that. Dhawan showed great maturity in accumulating runs by rotating the strike to remain unbeaten on 56 off 53 to help the Sunrisers post a total of 118.

The stat: The Sunrisers' 3-27 at the end of sixth over was the lowest power play score this season. It added weight to the IPL statistic that teams who lose three wickets inside the power play go on to lose 82 per cent of the matches.

The next stop: Rising Supergiants now travel back home to Pune take on the in-from Gujarat Lions on Friday while Hyderabad remain on home turf to prepare for their confrontation with the belligerent batting of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second match of Saturday night's double-header.