We won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Captain Gautam Gambhir said at the toss, “What's not broken, you don't need to fix it so no changes."
Blitz start from Warner:
The opening pair of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan took their time to get settled. After 2 overs, they were 18 for 0, but then Warner showed his brutal power as he smashed the ball to every corner of the park. Gambhir introduced Pathan with a hope of getting a breakthrough but the plan didn’t work as he went for 17 runs in the over, all of which were scored by the Aussie. Warner spared no bowler and brought up his 50 in 20 balls. Dhawan was doing a sensible thing at the other end as he was giving the strike to the in-form Aussie. Sunrisers rocketed to 79/0 in their Powerplay and showed no signs of stopping. Warner made a conscious effort of playing the switch-hit to Kuldeep and didn’t allow the bowler to get settled. He continued his merry way and SRH were 123/0 after 10 overs, 98 out of which were scored by their captain.
Bowlers pull back things after Warner show:
Warner completed his 100 in just 43 balls striking 7 fours and 8 sixes. Dhawan had to go back to the pavilion due to some sloppy running between the wickets. Kuldeep hit a direct throw as he departed for 29. The Warner onslaught continued meanwhile as he hit Narine for three consecutive fours in the 16th over. He was finally out for 126 off 59 balls as Gambhir took a good catch to dismiss his counterpart. Williamson then took the mantle of scoring runs as he played beautiful cricketing shots to entertain the crowds. He, along with Yuvraj then took their team past 200. From 123/0 after 10 overs. SRH ended up 209/3 in their 20 overs.
Not the perfect start:
Our first over went for 9, thanks to two fours from Gautam Gambhir’s bat. Sunil Narine could not contribute as he was removed by Siraj for 1. In the next over, Gambhir made his way back to the pavilion as he skied one off Kaul. Uthappa and Pandey then steadied our ship as the former hit the big shots with great ease. Pandey too, was showing his class and getting the fours frequently. The game was halted for some time because of rain but thankfully, it started without any overs getting deducted. With a hint of rain in the air, things became hard for us with the sticky wicket not letting the ball come on the bat freely. At the end of 10 overs, we were 82/2.
SRH too strong in the end:
11th over changed the game as Bhuvneshwar broke the partnership to dismiss well-settled Pandey for 39. Uthappa carried on but could not last long. He completed his fifth fifty of this season in 26 balls but got out while trying to play a big shot. With two new batsmen at the crease, things became difficult for us. With the boundaries not coming easily, the asking run-rate was increasing after every over. Rashid Khan struck on his last ball to dismiss Yusuf Pathan. Sheldon Jackson and Colin de Grandhomme tried to up the ante but the SRH bowlers were accurate in their death overs. We ended up on 161/7 in our 20 overs.