Titans prick Sunrisers’ balloon, spoil Cummins’ return to Ahmedabad

PAT CUMMINS was back in Ahmedabad, for the first time after November 19, when he and his Australian mates broke a billion Indian hearts waiting for a coronation. It was not a return to remember, on a sultry Sunday afternoon, as Cummins' Sunrisers Hyderabad were distant second-best to hosts Gujarat Titans, who cantered to a seven-wicket win.

Cummins opted to bat first, perhaps hoping to get somewhere close to the IPL record total they got in their last game. But the Sunrisers were brought back to earth from the highs of 277/3 - to 162/8 - eight short of the average first-innings score at this venue - within four days.

Flair and finesse

With Titans staying put on their anchorheavy batting, Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha needed to jet off in the Powerplay with minimal casualty. Saha opened fire early with two sixes off Jaydev Unadkat and Shahbaz Ahmed.

However, his streaky hand ended when Ahmed induced a chip to Cummins at midon in the fourth over. Captain Gill took on the spinner with a nimble inside-out six over extra-cover three deliveries later.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the league’s most proficient Powerplay bowler, went wicketless in the phase for a third game straight. Impact Player Sai Sudharsan’s wristy flick off a middle-stump delivery from Bhuvneshwar to the mid-wicket fence in the fifth over was perhaps a statement underlying the veteran seamer’s dip.

The short-arm jabs from Gill soon swatted the spinners in front and square of the wicket with supple movement before a Timeout break worked for Hyderabad. Resuming, Gill stepped out to leggie Mayank Markande first ball and found the long-on fielder.

His counterpart out of sight, Cummins jotted a late 11th over entry, hoping to neutralise the chase with pace-off deliveries. The left-handed duo of Sudharsan and David Miller fended off the impending threat with patience before flipping the scales in Markande’s 16th over that yielded 24 runs, laced with two fours and as many maximums. Though Sudharsan (45 off 36) missed out on his and the team's first half-century of the season, he had done irrevocable damage before Miller ended Hyderabad's ordeal in the final over with a thumping six.

In a tangle

The codeword of the day was variation with the ball. Eyebrows were raised when Gujarat replaced the economy of Sai Kishore with the aggressive Noor Ahmad.

After a wavering Powerplay (56 for one) that kept the deadly Travis Head largely silent and undid a struggling Mayank Agarwal, the left-arm wrist-spinner hopped in to diffuse the Hyderabad batting, making an impact almost instantly.

Head started with an almighty swing to long-off against Noor before attempting a heave across the line. Noor's vicious googly, swooshing in sharply from a fuller length onto the middle stump, had Head and his bat already slanting oddly toward the dugout.

The scoring rate plummeted with the din of the expanding crowd, and the home side pulled things back admirably. The Afghan spin menace of Noor and Rashid Khan darted in incisive overs before Mohit Sharma’s slowbowling nous saw the back of Abhishek

Sharma at the halfway mark.

Mohit-afghan masterclass

There was enough time to mark a counter. Henrich Klaasen, SRH'S in-form spin marauder, watchfully waited for balls in his arc to make the announcement. Two slot deliveries in Noor’s final over landed in the deep mid-wicket stands when Klaasen made contact with two slog-sweeps in succession.

The onslaught was short-lived as Klaasen’s high-backlift swipe was not quick enough to thwart a skiddy Rashid delivery that straightened from a length and disturbed the stumps. Effectively, the hosts sapped SRH’S powers inside 14 overs. The message was stamped firmly when Rashid’s stunning forward-leaping catch, running in from long-on, ended Aiden Markram’s tepid 19-ball 17 knock.

A quickfire stand of 45 from 28 balls for the seventh wicket between Abdul Samad and Shahbaz took Sunrisers north of 150. However, Mohit returned with his nagging change of pace, nabbing three wickets (with a run-out) for as many runs in the final over - the most economical 20th over thus far this season.

Though Sudharsan (45 off 36) missed out on his and the team's first half-century of the season, he had done irrevocable damage before Miller ended Hyderabad's ordeal in the final over

BRIEF SCORES: Sunrisers Hyderabad 162/8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 29, Abdul Samad 29 not out; Mohit Sharma 3/25) lost to Gujarat Titans 168/3 in 19.1 overs (Sai Sudharsan 45, David Miller 44 not out) by seven wickets

Nirmal Haridran Gujarat Titans’ Mohit Sharma took three wickets and his final over was the most economical 20th over in this season of the Indian Premier League.