IPL 2016: Bhuvneshwar Kumar Rattles Lions

Skipper Suresh Raina hit a stroke-filled 75 but Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers showed a lot of discipline to restrict Gujarat Lions to a modest 135/8 in an Indian Premier League cricket match, here on Thursday.

Courtesy Raina’s 51-ball knock that comprised nine fours, Lions’ score got some sort of respectability as the other batsmen failed to get going on a two-paced wicket where stroke-making proved to difficult.

The second best score after Raina was Brendon McCullum’s 18, which pretty much tells the sorry state of Lions’ batting on the night.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/29) returned with best figures as he got three wickets in the final over of the Gujarat innings.

Bangladesh’s seam bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahaman once again bowled a miserly spell giving away only 19 runs in four overs, while getting the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja (14) with a well disguised off-cutter.

The last five overs of the innings produced a mere 31 runs with the loss of four wickets.

While Bhuvneshwar should be lauded for his three-wicket burst in the final over, the pressure increased because Sunrisers skipper David Warner carefully kept three overs of the Bangladeshi pacer at the death as he bowled the 15th, 17th and 19th over without letting Gujarat off the hook.

With no support from the other end, it became difficult for a seasoned pro like Raina, as he started in style with cover drives, shots on the on-side.

But at the other end, wickets fell at regular intervals with McCullum trying a slog sweep off Bipul Sharma and the in-form Aaron Finch was bowled by Bhuvneshwar in the innings’ first over itself.

The only six of the innings came off McCullum’s blade, even as Sunrisers bowlers bowled an unprecedented 38 dot balls, which is equivalent to 6.2 overs without any run.

Scoreboard Gujarat Lions: A. Finch b Kumar 0, B. McCullum c Hooda b Bipul 18, S. Raina c Henriques b Kumar 75, D. Karthik c Kumar b Hooda 8, D. Bravo c Kumar b Sran 8, R. Jadeja b Mustafizur 14, A. Nath c Bipul b Kumar 5, D. Steyn c Morgan b Kumar 1, P. Kumar (not out) 1. Extras: (lb2, w3) 5. Total: (for 8 wkts, in 20 overs) 135. FoW: 1-0, 2-56, 3-74, 4-91, 5-117, 6-133, 7-133, 8-135. Bowling: Kumar 4-0-29-4 (2w), Sran 4-0-36-1, Mustafizur 4-0-19-1, Hooda 3-0-22-1, Henriques 3-0-17-0 (1w), Bipul 2-0-10-1