Wednesday, 18 September 2013 00:38
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India’s Sunrisers Hyderabad last night beat Kandurata Maroons by a convincing eight wickets in the T20 Champions League match played at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, Chandigarh.
Batting first, Kandurata Maroons scored 168 for 3 in their 20 with Kumar Sangakkara scoring 61 runs off 46 balls with seven 4s. Incidentally, Sangakkara opted to play with Kandurata Maroons even though he was part of the Sunrisers Hyderbad team.
Kandurata Captain Lahiru Thirimanne scored 54 off 39 balls with five 4s and two 6s.
The duo put on a valuable partnership of 89 runs after Kandurata lost two early wickets of Tharanga and Jayasuriya. Lankan all rounder Thisara Perera playing for Sunrisers was the most expensive bowler with 43 runs taken in his four overs.
In reply, Sunrisers scored the required runs with nine balls remaining. Sunrisers Captain Shikhar Dhawan top scored with 71 off 53 balls with 11 fours and P.A. Patel made 52 off 42 balls with seven 4s. The openers put on a 121 stand. Thisara Perera was promoted in the batting line up and smashed the winning runs with a quick fire 32 off 11 balls including four 4s and two 6s.
In the penultimate over Thisara whacked Nuwan Kulasekara of Kandurata for a four and a six in consecutive balls enabling Sunrisers Hyderabad to overtake the winning target comfortably.
Man of the match was S. Dhawan for his match winning knock of 71.
In post match comments, Kandurata Captain Lahiru Thirimanne said: “I think 170 was a very good score on this pitch. In the end of the day, it was hard to contain runs. Getting Dhawan was a valuable wicket. So was Parthiv’s. It was hard to contain runs as bowlers did not bowl to a plan. We need to improve our bowling. Looking forward to the next match. We have Rangana Herath, but he is at the hotel so he couldn’t’ make it to the ground. Rangana will come to the side for tomorrow’s game, so hopefully it will be a good day tomorrow.”
Wining Captain Dhawan said: “It was a good total from their side, but I knew it was chaseable because on this ground it is easier to chase. This was a totally new experience for me as captain. It was my first day as captain so I have a lot to learn. I will make a lot of mistakes, and have to learn from them. It is part and parcel of the captaincy. I thought this wicket didn’t support turn so I should have used him more (Mishra). Plus they had a lot of left-handers so we didn’t think the spinners would do much. I felt the fast bowlers had more to offer on this track.”