Titans march towards semi-final

South African side Titans cruised to an easy eight-wicket over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a Group B CLT20 match at the JSCA International Stadium Compex here in Ranchi on Saturday. In chasing down the 146-run target, the Titans finished on 147/2 in 16.3 overs, taking a big step forward towards a semi-final berth. The victory was set up for the Titans by the opening pair of skipper Henry Davids and Jacques Rudolph, whose 112-run stand, set them on course. This, after their bowlers and fielders, gave them an upper hand restricting Sunrisers to under 150. By the time Davids departed for a 42-ball 64, the equation was firmly in favour of Titans with 34 required from 47 balls. That did not prove much of a task as they reached the target with 21 balls in hand even as Rudolph finished at an unbeaten 49, missing out on a half-century. Earlier, the Sunrisers could not convert a good start by their opening duo of skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel to settle for a modest 145/7. The Titans bowlers, led by David Wiese (3/17), gave little away after the duo’s departure and were complemented well by some exceptional fielding. Put in to bat in overcast conditions, the Sunrisers’ openERS raised 21/0 in the first three overs. Dhawan gauged the pace of the pitch nicely, getting two sweetly timed boundaries each in the third and the fourth over even as Morne Morkel troubled Patel at the other end. Dhawan went one better in the fifth over, by Marchant de Lange, to add a six to two boundaries in the over as the partnership neared the 50-run mark. Patel, meanwhile, was living dangerously as his second of the successive boundaries off Morkel in the next over was just over the keeper’s reach. But his stay was beginning to hurt Titans as he lifted Morkel for a six in the last delivery to raise the total to 60 for no loss. Scoreboard Sunrisers Hyderabad: P. Patel b Wiese 26, S. Dhawan c Morkel b Wiese 37, JP Duminy b de Lange 17, H. Vihari c Davids b Wiese 6, B. Samantray st Mosehle b Davids 0, T. Perera (run out) 11, D. Sammy c Behardien b Richards 1, K. Sharma (not out) 11, D. Steyn (not out) 27. Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 7) 9, Total (for 7 wkts; n 20 overs) 145. FoW: 1-62, 2-71, 3-83, 4-86, 5-102, 6-105, 7-112. Bowling: Davids 4-0-18-1 (4w), Morkel 4-0-42-0 (1w), Richards 4-0-24-1 (1w), de Lange 4-0-42-1, Wiese 4-0-17-3 (1w). Titans: J. Rudolph (not out) 49, H. Davids c Sammy b Steyn 64, AB de Villiers c Perera b Ishant 9, H. Kuhn (not out) 15. Extras (lb 6, w 4) 10, Total (for 2 wkts; in 16.3 overs) 147. FoW: 1-112, 2-123. Bowling: Karan 1-0-9-0, Steyn 4-0-23-1, Ishant 4-0-32-1 (2w), Perera 2.3-0-29-0 (1w), Mishra 2-0-17-0 (1w), Duminy 1-0-14-0, Sammy 2-0-17-0.