A clinical performance by Sunrisers Hyderabad and a comical collapse by Gujarat Lions saw the defending champions seal their spot in the last four. Gujarat were cruising after putting on 111 runs for the first-wicket but then inexplicably collapsed to 154 all out. Having done the damage with the ball, David Warner and Vijay Shankar calmly took their side to victory.
Here’s a look at a few moments of the game:
Super start
A good start is often half the job done. In T20, perhaps it is even more important. Set a platform and the rest of the batting line-up can literally go nuts. Ishan Kishan (61 off 40) and Dwayne Smith (54 off 33) did exactly that. They attacked, they scored quick runs, had SRH on the back foot and they did it with a fair degree of ease. By the time, Smith was dismissed with the total on 111, GL looked good for at least 200.
Collapso cricket
They were cruising. There was nothing in the wicket for the bowlers and then, suddenly without reason, Gujarat collapsed from 111-0 to 123-5. Rashid got Smith, Karthik and Finch while Siraj sent back Kishan and Suresh Raina with beautiful slower balls. It was a brain fade that Steve Smith would have been proud of.
Praveen’s wickets
At the start of their innings, Gujarat needed hope and they got it from Praveen Kumar (4-0-22-2). He sent back Dhawan and Henriques in the third over and suddenly planted some doubt in the minds of the batsmen and all those watching but the rest of the bowling line-up just couldn’t back him up. They sure could have used Andrew Tye here. His absence has really hurt them.
Warner’s the man
If SRH are ever in trouble, they just need to trust their skipper. The early wickets might have made other teams stutter but Warner just calmed things down. They were missing Yuvraj Singh as well but the SRH skipper was not perturbed at all. He guided Vijay Shankar (63 off 44) and together they made it to the target with no further loss. He did the same thing last season – playing with the kind of responsibility and consistency that is almost unheard of in T20 cricket. He was lucky though – the umpire gave him a life when he has clearly edged the ball but he made the most of his chance. During the course of his innings today, Warner also became the first captain to score 600-plus runs in consecutive IPL seasons. (2016 & 2017).
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