CLT20: Dhawan, Mishra lead Sunrisers into group stage

Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Faisalabad Wolves by seven wickets Toss: Sunrisers won the toss and chose to bowl first Faisalabad Wolves: 127 for 5 from 20 overs (Misbah 56*, Mahmood 31, Mishra 1-13) Faisalabad started positively, with Mahmood in particular finding the boundary multiple times off Ishant Sharma and Thisara Perera. Together with Ali Waqas, Wolves jumped out to score 44 from the first six overs. But the introduction of the legspinners Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma changed the complexion of the game. [caption id=“attachment_1118697” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shikhar Dhawan made yet another half-century. BCCI[/caption] Mishra was given just one over in Sunriser’s first game, while Sharma did not bowl at all. Dhawan admitted he needed to use Mishra more and was rewarded when both bowlers struck in their first overs. A fog seemed to descend on the Wolves after that double-strike, with only Misbah-ul-Haq able to score freely. The Wolves captain was in an unusually aggressive mood, striking five sixes on the way to an unbeaten 56 from just 40 balls but the rest of his batsmen were strangled by the Sunrisers’ bowlers. Darren Sammy picked up a wicket in his first over as well, as Wolves limped to 127 from their 20 overs, having scored just 83 runs and lost 5 wickets over the last 14 overs. Sunrisers Hyderabad: 131 for 3 (Dhawan 59, Parthiv 23, Khalid 2-14) Chasing a small target, Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan startedly efficiently. Dhawan strode down the wicket to Samiullah Khan to drive him through the covers, but the first four overs were fairly sedate. In the fifth, the openers cut loose, plundering 14 runs from Samiullah, with Dhawan showing his proficienty through the offisde. A flowing cover drive was followed by a cheeky late cut to the third man fence. Parthiv fell against the run of play for 23, pulling a short ball from Khurram Shehzad straight to midwicket, but Dhawan and JP moved remorselessly towards their target. Dhawan reached his half-century with a heave to cow-corner off Imran Khalid and then celebrated by hitting the same bowler for six. But Khalid struck back with the very next ball, beating the bat with a flatter delivery that took the inside edge before crashiung into the stumps. Dhawan’s 59 came off 50 balls and contained six fours and a six. Biplap Samantray soon followed, out for a second-ball duck but by then Sunrisers needed just 16 runs from the last five overs and Sammy got them home with three consecutive boundaries. Turning Point: The introduction of Mishra and Sharma sucked the momentum out of the Faisalsabad innings. Man of the Match: Amit Mishra