S10M01

Defending champions begin with a bang!

SunRisers Hyderabad repeat 2016 final to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener

When Yuvraj Singh hit a boundary to get to his half century, the crowd roared in appreciation, but off the same ball, at the other end was another half century that told a different story. Yuvraj’s 51 came off 23 balls, while Aniket Choudhary took just 21 balls to reach exactly 51 runs taken of his bowling. RCB’s cup of woe was full with its wayward bowling and some ordinary fielding.

The Rajiv Gandhi International stadium at Uppal, Hyderabad wore a carnival atmosphere as the entire stadium bathed in a sea of Orange and Red, yes the visitors too had ample support as seen in the loud cheers for the Chris Gayle sixes.

David Warner lost the toss but didn’t lose the opportunity to hit a six off a free hit, batting first. However his stay at the crease was short-lived, his opening partner Shikar Dhawan who started slowly compensated with four boundaries in a Watson over to up the ante.

The free hitting Moises Henriques was only overshadowed by the arrival of the evening’s crowd favourite Yuvraj Singh. In the absence of the Indian skipper Virat Kohli, Yuvi garnered the maximum cheer for his batting, catching and also for his wave to the crowd from the boundary while fielding.

The cool breezy night also belonged to the SRH bowlers Bhuvaneshwar, Ben Cutting and Ashish Nehra all bowling with discipline and success. But the loudest appreciation came for the IPL debutant Afghanistan bowler Rashid Khan who picked up a wicket in his first over and added one more to cement his place for the future games.

  

A 200 plus score in the season opener is just a taste of things to come in a run-feast of a tournament.

Brief Scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad 207 for 4 (Yuvraj 62, Henriques 52, Chahal 1-22) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 172 (Gayle 32, Bhuvneshwar 2-27, Rashid 2-36) by 35 runs.

Man of the Match: Yuvraj Singh.