Southpaws Warner (24), Dhawan (54) and Morgan (63) make merry as Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals in high-scoring affair
There is something special about left-handers. There is an air of arrogance in their batting. They may not possess the grace of Gower, the class of Ganguly or the style of Lara, but Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Eoin Morgan are nevertheless brilliant. At the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday afternoon, each of them displayed a similar approach — that of attacking the opposition.
If Dhawan and Morgan scored entertaining half-centuries, Warner gave the Sunrisers Hyderabad a rollicking start as they registered a seven-run win over 'hosts' Rajasthan Royals in a high-scoring game.
Even on a true batting track, getting 202 was never going to be easy. But Rajasthan stretched themselves to reach 194/7 with the help of a matured 68 from the baby-faced Steven Smith followed by some big hitting from James Faulkner (30, 19 balls) and Chris Morris (34, 11 balls) at the death. Some tight bowling in the end from Sunrisers seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, though, did not allow Rajasthan to cross the finishing line.
The Sunrisers have been heavily depended on their openers — Dhawan and Warner — this season. And the same was expected on Thursday after Rajasthan asked them to bat.
The southpaws bullied the Rajasthan attack with some power hitting. Dhawan oozed grace as he drove the ball beautifully while Warner never let the bad ball go unpunished. Warner cut and pulled the short stuff convincingly.
As the two were set for a long haul, Warner nicked Shane Watson to wicketkeeper Sanju Samson in an attempt to guide one to third man, thereby ending the partnership at 48 and giving Rajasthan a sigh of relief.
But Shane Watson's worries weren't over. Morgan was yet to come. Before that, Rajasthan they held to deal with Dhawan and Moises Henriques. Dhawan produced some mouthwatering slog-sweeps in the midwicket region off leg-spinner Pravin Tambe. In the process, he notched up his third half-century of the season. Moises, meanwhile, succumbed to Tambe after a crucial stand with Dhawan. He made a 21-ball 20.
Upon reaching his fifty, Dhawan failed to read a straight delivery from James Faulkner only to see himself get bowled for 54 off 35 balls.
Questioned numerous times about their side's over-dependence on openers, the Sunrisers middle-order was on a mission. And it was Morgan who answered the critics with an entertaining knock. His baseball-style grip and open-faced bat turned out to be a curse for the Rajasthan bowlers, who simply had no answer to his power hitting.
Morgan spared none. From Watson to Morris to Tambe, he hit them all. He targetted the area over the bowlers head as well as the 'V' and played the odd shot over mid-wicket off Tambe. Before Watson could get rid of the Irishman, the damage was done. A 28-ball 68 was enough for him to help his team cross the 200-run barrier.
Rajasthan looked out of sorts as their opener Ajinkya Rahane returned home after displaying some classy drives. It boiled down to Smith, who tried hard, but could not see the team through.
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