CLT20: Brendon McCullum blasts Otago to victory over Sunrisers

Result: Otago Volts beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets Toss: Otago Volts won the toss and chose to bowl first Sunrisers Hyderabad: 143/5 (Duminy 57*, Sammy 26, Nathan McCullum 2-23) The Shikhar Dhawan-Parthiv Patel combination failed for the first time this tournament, with both openers falling to Nathan McCullum inside the first five overs. Parthiv tried to cut a delivery that went straight on and was bowled, while Dhawan failed to clear midwicket. [caption id=“attachment_1123937” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Brendon McCullum hit five sixes in the course of making an unbeaten 67. BCCI[/caption] JP Duminy held the innings together, content to push the ball around for singles and the occasional two, while also finding the fence (he struck seven fours) when presented with anything loose. Cameron White and Darren Sammy took the opposite approach, swinging away freely, as they tried to push the run-rate. White smashed one flat batted six but failed to come off, taking 21 balls for his 23. Sammy’s innings was of a similar vein – 26 from 22 – even though 16 of those runs came in boundaries. Duminy’s approach brought him 57 from 38, a much better strike-rate than his slogging team-mats, and he added 52 from the last five overs with Sammy to give their bowlers something to defend after a sluggish first 15 overs. Otago Volts: 144/5 (Brendon McCullum 67, Rutherford 27, Steyn 2-13) Otago sent about their chase with intent, going after Ishant Sharma in the second over and plundering 12 runs. That forced Dhawan to alter his bowling plan, and he brought on Karan Sharma in the fourth over. Rutherford played and missed first ball, but ended the over with consecutive boundaries. Sammy faired no better, being struck for a big six by Brendon and clipped for four by Rutherford. The pair added 53 runs from 6.4 overs as Otago took control of the game. A couple of quick wickets - Rutherford and Ryan Ten Doeschate fell within five runs of each – hinted that Sunrisers might fight back, but Brendon was in no mood to relinquish the upper hand. Together with James Neesham, they assaulted the bowling, adding 51 from 27 balls. Parthiv missed an easy stumping when Sharma beat McCullum with a quicker delivery when the batsman was on 26 and he made sure to shut the door firmly after that. He reached his half-century with consecutive sixes and though Otago lost Neesham and Nathan McCullum (run-out with the scores tied in a horrible mix-up with his brother), the result was achieved with 22 balls to spare. Brendon was unbeaten on 67 from 39 balls, having smashed five fours and five sixes. Turning Point: The early dismissals of Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel set the Sunrisers back and despite Duminy’s best efforts, they were never able to recover the momentum and ended up about 20 runs short on this wicket. Man of the Match: Brendon McCullum