Afternoon starts are usually tricky at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Who else would know that better than Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper
Pat Cummins
, who benefited by fielding first in the World Cup final for Australia but chose to bat first against Gujarat Titans on a similarly dry surface.
It was the gift that Titans skipper
Shubman Gill
accepted with both hands. He had assessed the pitch correctly and had roped in the services of Afghan chinaman
Noor Ahmed
who replaced Aussie speedster Spencer Johnson.
Noor struck in his first over removing dangerman
Travis Head
. Noor's more decorated spin partner
Rashid Khan
, who has endured a tough time post surgery, dismissed in-form
Heinrich Klaasen
and stifled the gifted
Aiden Markram
, to deny the Sunrisers any momentum towards the back end of the innings.
Markram felt the pressure of accelerating and succumbed to
Umesh Yadav
as the 2016 champions ended up with a below-par total of 163.
Even when Abdul Samad and Shahbaz Ahmed connected a few big hits in the end, Gill brought back Mohit Sharma at the right time and made the batters hit slower ones into the pitch to the large square boundaries and had the batters caught.
In the last five overs, SRH could score only 40 runs. Gill may be a young captain, but seems to be quickly learning his trade.
English (US) ·