CLT20: Sunrisers sprint past Maroons on Dhawan's captaincy debut

Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kandurata Maroons by eight wickets at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Toss: Sunrisers won the toss and chose to bowl first Kandurata: 168 for 3 from 20 overs (Sangakkara 61*, Thirimanne 54, Ishant 2-20) Upul Tharanga started strongly, but Ishant Sharma and Darren Sammy picked up a wicket apiece in the first five overs to slow the Sri Lankan team’s progress. That brought Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne together at the crease, and the pair played sensible but aggressive cricket to rebuild the innings. [caption id=“attachment_1115897” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shikhar Dhawan was not at his best in the field but he made up for it with his bat. BCCI[/caption] They took Kandurta from 33 for 2 to 122 for 2, with some controlled hitting as Sunrisers’ bowlers were guilty of bowling too short. Sangakkara used the width of the crease intelligently, scooping the ball over the keeper or fine down the leg side by moving across his stumps. Thirimanne was more direct, charging the bowlers and hitting JP Duminy and Thisara Perera for a six each. Dilhara Lokuhettige sturck some lusty blows at the end to lift Kandurata to what seemed to be a competitive total. Ishant Sharma was the best of the bowlers. His first three overs cost just six runs and he picked up the wicket of Tharanga. By contrast Dale Steyn was uncharacteristically wayward, going for 35 runs from his four overs. Shikhar Dhawan, in his first game as captain, gave Amit Mishra just one over as he felt the wicket was not turning and Kandurata had too many left-handers in their side. Sunrisers: 174 for 2 from 18.3 overs (Dhawan 71, Parthiv 52, Perera 32*) It was Parthiv who started out the more aggressive of the openers, as Dhawan struggled to get his timing right. He went after the seamers, striking Jayaratne and Kulasekara for a pair of boundaries each in successive overs. That gave Dhawan the time to settle in and the pair began to tuck into the bowling. Parthiv was quick to seize on anything short or wide and once Dhawan was into his stride, he peppered the offside with boundaries. The pair added 121 – the highest opening partnership for Sunrisers – before Parthiv holed out to long-on, having made 52 from 42 balls, with seven fours. Thirimanne tried rotating all his bowlers but there was nothing in the pitch for the spinners – even Ajantha Mendis struggled to get any noticeable turn – and the seamers were wayward and ineffective. Dhawan through away his wicket, reverse-sweeping Mendis straight into backward square’s hands, but by then the result was not in doubt. Dhawan’s 71 came from 53 balls and he struck 11 fours. Perera struck his first ball for six and his last ball for six, finishing off the innings by crashing Kulasekara over mid-on. His 32 took just 11 balls. Turning Point: The introduction of Mendis in the sixth over seemed to set Dhawan free. He had already shown signs of breaking loose with a couple of well struck boundaries against the seamers when he smashed three consecutive boundaries off Mendis. He was off to the races from there. Man of the match: Shikhar Dhawan