Bowlers hand Pune easy victory over Hyderabad

Rising Pune Supergiants brought their stuttering Indian Premier League campaign back on track with a convincing 34-run win over hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad via Duckworth Lewis method in a rain-affected match yesterday. Relishing favourable conditions, Supergiants restricted Sunrisers to a modest 118 for eight after a rain-delayed start at Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.
Supergiants were comfortably placed 94 for three in their chase when skied opened up, forcing suspension of play. The play never resumed and Supergiants were declared the winners. It was first win for Supergiants after four straight defeats and credit for the much-needed win goes to their pace duo of Ashok Dinda (3/23) and Mitchell Marsh (2/14), who revelled under helpful conditions.
Except for losing Ajinkya Rahane in the very first over, Supergiants were in complete control of the contest. Steve Smith and Faf Du Plessis went about their business calmly.
Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur Rehman bowled well but Smith and Du Plessis were ready to buy some time.  They shared a 80-run stand that set up the easy chase. Smith’s unbeaten 46-run knock came off 30 balls and had seven boundaries in it while Du Plesiss hit 30 off 21 balls with three fours and two sixes. The stand was broken by Moises Henriques when he had the South African caught behind. RPS skipper MS Dhoni promoted himself up the order and straight away smashed a four.
However he did not last long, hitting one straight to Aditya Tare off Nehra. Immediately after Dhoni dismissal, skied opened up again and play never resumed. Despite defeat, Hyderabad remained at number four in the table with six points while Supergiants rose a rung to six with four points. Hyderabad suffered their first defeat after three straight wins.
Earlier, half of the Hyderabad team was back in the dug-out by the ninth over with only 32 runs on the board, thanks to two wickets apiece from medium pacers Dinda and Marsh.
But a 47-run stand between Shikhar Dhawan (56 not out) and Naman Ojha (18) came to Hyderabad’s rescue as it ensured that the team crossed the 100-run mark. Dhawan was the only bright spot for Hyderbad as the left-hander scored his second consecutive fifty. With the help of two fours and a six, he made 56 off 53 deliveries.
At the end, Bhuvneshawar Kumar’s brisk cameo of eight-ball 21 lifted them to 118/8. Put into bat by Pune captain Dhoni, Hyderabad batsmen were undone by reckless batting and poor shot selection. It started with the very first over when in-form David Warner hit a wide ball from right-armer Dinda straight to Ajnikya Rahane at backward point in the first over.  Dinda removed Aditya Tare (8) when the right-hander top-edged a wide delivery to Thisara Perera at cover as Hyderabad lost their second wicket at 26 runs in five overs.
Marsh reduced Hyderabad to 27/3 in the next over as Eoin Morgan’s drive found an edge to wicket-keeper Dhoni. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin gave further joy to Pune camp as he dismissed Deepak Hooda (0), who edged it to Dhoni.
Marsh continued the flow of wickets as he got rid of compatriot all-rounder Moises Henriques (1), who managed to find an edge to a ball outside the leg stump to Dhoni. At this stage, Hyderabad were reeling at 32/5 in 8.1 overs and were in desperate need of a partnership. Dhawan found support from Ojha as the duo tried to resurrect the innings. Dinda broke the stand when he rattled Ojha’s stumps as the right-hander batsman missed the line.
Later, Hyderabad were propped up by Bhuveshwar’s three hits to the fence and one over it to recover a bit from ignominy.
Brief Scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad 118/8 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan not out 56; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 21; Ashok Dinda 3-23, Mitchell Marsh 2-14) lost to Rising Pune Supergiants 94/3 in 11 overs (Faf du Plessis 30, Steve Smith not out 46) by 34 runs (D/L method)