It was hot in Ahmedabad. The sort of heat that doesn’t make you sweat, it questions you. It reasons with you as to why you even turned up. And with that subplot, Sunrisers Hyderabad faced a team like Gujarat Titans, who showed up with a solid plan and stuck religiously to it.
Somewhere between Sudharsan’s lovely strokemaking, Buttler’s pristine form, and Gill’s surgeon-like accuracy, SRH were laid bare. Not in a dramatic way. But, in a quiet, slow tragedy of being outdone at every phase, as if they were drowning without a splash.
A blistering poetry in motion
Being asked to bat first, GT started their innings like a calm conversation. Two overs later, it turned into a sermon on how not to bowl in the powerplay. Mohammed Shami gave away 31 runs in his first two overs, while Pat Cummins took himself out of the attack, only one over in, after getting hit for 17 runs.
Jaydev Unadkat and Harshal Patel were brought in, but to no advantage. There was panic in the SRH camp, and with panic came loose balls, each of which was effectively dispatched to the fence with contempt. The duo was clearing the gaps as if they’d not get a chance to bat again.
Six overs in, GT had 82 runs on the board, and SRH’s pacers were already looking for a reprieve from this torment. Which did come, but only temporarily. A Zeeshan Ansari googly got Sudharsan, who was too late to judge it, and forced claps from the Ahmedabad crowd accurately showed just how happy they were with the dismissal.
Two overs of unusual quiet later, Shami returned and triggered Gill to step on the gas once again. So good was Gill at that point that Jos Buttler had to settle for playing second fiddle to him. Following an edge that fell short and a dropped catch came the Gill run-out.
Then came another two overs of no boundaries, before Buttler gradually started making his side’s way back to the game. That Washington Sundar was quietly floating along did not help, and it became more of a problem when the English batter miscued a Pat Cummins’ delivery to long-on in the penultimate over. The last over only saw sixes flying and wickets falling, to end GT on a competitive total of 224.
SRH make the mayday call
Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head gave SRH an entertaining opening. There were a handful of boundaries, a couple of splendid lofts, both of which ignited hope for SRH. But it wasn’t enough, and Sunrisers knew it too. And as if it wasn’t enough, Rashid Khan decided to channel his inner Jonty Rhodes to get Head out of the way. Prasidh Krishna drew the first blood as well as the Purple Cap. He came with lengths so incisively hard they should’ve come with a warning sign.
The asking rate surged. The scoring rate fell. Barring two boundaries and Abhishek Sharma’s insistence on summoning the impossible, nothing of note happened in the next few overs, at least not until Ishan Kishan threw his wicket after an agonizing innings.
Rashid the bowler was expensive, and Abhishek tried to mess the other bowlers’ figures too, but SRH never got close enough to turn it into an advantage. Prasidh managed another wicket, Siraj got two in the same over, and Rashid continued giving SRH hope with his sloppy bowling, but it was a solo gone too long for them.
It ended with SRH fighting demons in vain under the Ahmedabad sky. And if you listened close enough, you could hear the door creak just a little further shut on their campaign this year.
