Thisara Perera struck an unbeaten 57 from 32 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Trinidad & Tobago by 4 wickets in Mohali with three balls to spare.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise restored their home crowds faith with a perfectly timed chase, although wickets from Sunil Narine (4 for 9) had made the sailing far from plain.
Darren Bravo had earlier bludgeoned 4 straight sixes and 5 fours for the Caribbean champions as his 66 from 44 deliveries saw his side to 160 for 8.
When Narine dismissed Darren Sammy and Ashish Reddy with the final two balls of the 18th over it left 19 required from the final 12 balls, but Perera alongside Karn Sharma, who hit the final two balls of the match for four and six, held their nerve.
Darren Sammy, paid tribute to his teammate and man of the match Perera, saying, “It was one of the best innings I’ve seen in a while.”
“It’s one of the wins we need to get us going in the tournament,” he added. “We bowled as a team right from the IPL. If somebody doesn’t bowl that well, Perera and I just bowl straight and do the job. We work as a team just like Perera did today.”
A disappointed Denesh Ramdin, the Trindad & Tobago captain, said, “We were about 10 runs less (than we needed). Bravo got out at the wrong time and we couldn’t score off Steyn’s last three balls, that’s what went in their favour.”
“We need to work on all that,” he asserted. “We tried to get Perera out and we knew his was the important wicket.”
It’s Trinidad & Tobago’s first defeat and sees Sunrisers off to a perfect start in the main event after they squeezed through the qualifying stage in second place, only losing to the impressive Otago Volts.
Meanwhile, in the first game of the day, Matthew Gale’s impressive t20 debut for Brisbane Heat at the ripe old age of 29 could not prevent Titans from succumbing to defeat by 4 runs to Titans in Mohali. This second defeat leaves the Heat’s chances of progression in this year’s Champions League T20 competition hanging by a thread, but the Titans first win in two outings has given them hope.
Although the scores were low the contest was a cracker. Titans were all out for 123 towards the end of the 19th over after Gale had taken 4 for 10 in his 2.5 over spell. Henry Davids top scored with 39, but the Titans last four wickets fell for 1 run in seven balls and the Heat’s target of 124 seemed well within their compass.
The Titans were rescued by man of the match Marchant de Lange who took 3 for 13 as only opener James Hopes (37) passed 21. De Lange De Lange bowled with hostility in his initial spell before returning to , before bowling a terrific final over to see his team through.
Henry Davids, the Titans captain who marshaled his bowling changes with aplomb admitted the game got, “A bit close there.”
“The wickets cost us a lot of momentum (in the first innings), but they guys kept putting the ball in the good areas and we ended up on top today.”
In tomorrow’s matches in Jaipur the Otago Volts take on the Perth Scorchers (4pm local time, 11.30am UK) and the Lions play the Rajasthan Royals (8pm India, 3.30pm UK). Live updates throughout on @cricket_badger
Group A
| Teams | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royals | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.425 |
| Mum Indians | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -0.425 |
| Lions | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Otago | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Scorchers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Group B
| Teams | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trinidad & T | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +1.250 |
| Super Kings | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.679 |
| Titans | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.180 |
| Brisbane | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.725 |
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
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