Defending champs off the blocks

Hyderabad, Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad made a perfect start to their Indian Premier League campaign, crushing a depleted Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in the opening encounter here today.
Veteran Yuvraj Singh’s blazing blade (62 off 27 balls) and unheralded Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan Arman’s (2/36 in 4 overs) crucial breakthroughs enabled Sunrisers to outwit a Virat Kohli-less RCB in all departments.
A challenging target of 208 was achievable on a placid track but RCB could only manage 172 in 19.4 overs, losing wickets at regular intervals. This was the first time after 23 IPL matches that RCB were bowled out. RCB’s top four — Chris Gayle (32), Mandeep Singh (24), Travis Head (30) and Kedar Jadhav (31) — got starts before getting out. Kedar’s dismissal was the turning point as RCB were never in the match after that.
The India international was looking dangerous during his 16-ball stay and was run out when Ben Cutting’s direct hit from the deep found him short by a metre. On a wicket where pacers became easy prey for the batsmen, Sunrisers skipper David Warner rotated his spinners well trying to take the pace off the deliveries.
Rashid, who created history by being the first Afghan to play an IPL match, got Mandeep with a quicker straight delivery that the batsman edged onto his stumps. Rashid also got Head, caught at mid-wicket. However, Deepak Hooda got the most important wicket when Gayle tried to smash the off-spinner over long-off for a second straight six only to be caught by Warner.
Ashish Nehra (2/42) also got a couple of wickets to reach a personal milestone of 100 IPL victims. Earlier, a vintage Yuvraj hammered RCB bowlers into submission. Yuvraj, dropped on 26, scored his fastest IPL half-century, off 23 balls. Moises Henriques’ 52 off 37 balls also went a long way in contributing to Sunrisers’ total. The Yuvraj-Henriques pair added 58 runs in only 4.5 overs after Shikhar Dhawan (40) was involved in a 74-run stand for the second wicket.