Morgan blisters Sunrisers to key win

A Steven Smith half-century and some late-order fireworks from James Faulkner proved in vain for the Rajasthan Royals after a blistering knock from England one-day captain Eoin Morgan helped the Sunrisers Hyderabad register their fifth win.

Morgan hit a 28-ball 63 as Sunrisers posted a massive 202 and the Rajasthan top-order failed to get going on a slowing Brabourne track. Despite some lusty hitting by Faulkner, Sanju Samson and Chris Morris towards the end, they fell seven runs short.

This was after Hyderabad had decided to bolster their middle-order batting by dropping South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn for England allrounder Ravi Bopara. The tactic worked as the Sunrisers batsmen were able to bat with a sense of freedom even when wickets fell, something not seen often this season.

Shikhar Dhawan laid the foundation with a half-century at the top of the innings before Morgan’s assault in the middle took them to their highest score of season so far.

Hyderabad’s openers of Dhawan and David Warner added 48 in 4.3 overs. Warner, who required treatment between overs, possibly the result of a back twinge, hit his Aussie teammate Shane Watson for a couple of boundaries but an attempt to make it three in a row saw him edge behind.

Dhawan took over where Warner left off, cracking Dhawal Kulkarni for a couple of fours and then hitting Pravin Tambe for a six while Moises Henriques hit Faulkner for two fours in the same over to push Hyderabad to 1-88 at the halfway stage.

Tambe did get the better of Henriques, bowling him off a quicker one as he attempted a slog to mid-wicket, and for some time it looked like Rajasthan would be able to peg back their opposition.

Morgan, who had been retained despite some indifferent form, had different ideas. His intent was signalled with a four and six off successive Watson deliveries early in his innings before he really pressed on the accelerator once Dhawan (54) left.

He started off in the 16th over, taking on the leg-spin of Pravin Tambe and dispatching him for a couple of sixes and a four, and then bringing up his half-century next Morris over with two fours and a six. By the time he was sent back for a 28-ball 63, attempting the sixth six of his innings, Hyderabad were looking at a score of more than 200.

Watson grabbed a couple of wickets but went for 36 from his three overs, while Faulkner’s four overs cost him 37.

Ajinkya Rahane fell in the very first over and when Watson’s attempt at a lofted on-drive fell straight to the mid-on fielder, Rajasthan had lost two wickets with just 30 on the board.

They would have been in much deeper trouble had Smith not been given two early lives from fellow Australians. He hadn’t even opened his account when a miscued drive fell close to Warner who opted not to go for the catch.

And he was on 14 when Henriques put down an even simpler catch at deep square-leg to keep the Royals in the hunt.

The surface seemed to have become tougher to bat on, and Smith found run-scoring difficult for a while. Karun Nair fell soon after and it was not before the Royals had almost chugged to a halt at 3-53 from nine overs that Smith finally found his rhythm.

He took on Henriques in the 10th over, punishing him for the dropped catch with three fours from four balls.

Deepak Hooda’s attempt to send Sharma over the top resulted in an easy catch for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and with required-rate having mounted to almost 14 an over, Faulkner was promoted up to six.

The pair was able to keep up with the rate, scoring 40 from the next three, but when Bopara pegged Smith stumps back for 68, the Sunrisers knew they were on the threshold of their fifth win.

With Faulkner’s 19-ball 30 and with Samson smashing 21 from 10, the Royals were left to score 40 from two overs and with Morris hitting three sixes from three, they were kept in the game till the last over.

Bhuvneshwar (3-44) kept them down to just 10 runs to clinch the win in the end.