(Cricket news) Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Gujarat Titans by 8 wickets to register back to back wins. After winning the toss, Kane Williamson elected to bowl first as both teams announced unchanged Playing XIs. Gujarat Titans chose to give Matthew Wade another opportunity despite underwhelming performances.
In the first innings GT posted 162 runs thanks to an unbeaten 50 off 42 balls by skipper Hardik Pandya. Abhinav Manohar was the only other batter to cross the 30 run mark for Gujarat as he scored 35 off 21 balls. T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 2 wickets each while Marco Janden got a scalp. Umran Malik bowled an incredible first over where he hit Hardik Pandya on the helmet and trapped Matthew Wade with pure rapid pace. GT had no answer for SRH's incredible death bowling which is why they couldn't post a higher total.
SRH chased the total down with 5 balls to spare and 8 wickets in hand. Kane Williamson anchored the innings as he scored 57 off 46 balls. Abhishek Sharma continued his great form with a 32 ball 42 while Nicholas Pooran produced late fireworks scoring 34 off just 18 balls to finish off the game in style. Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan picked up a wicket each while Rahul Tripathi was retired hurt. Mohammed Shami and Lockie Ferguson missed their lines a few times and SRH took advantage of it. In hindsight, GT didn't have enough runs on the board but their bowling wasn't great either. SRH didn't have any trouble chasing the total.
Gujarat will have to assess what went wrong before their next game. Matthew Wade could be dropped in the next game which would give Wriddhiman Saha an opportunity and would open up an overseas slot for either Alzarri Joseph or Dominic Drakes. They could also give Afghanistan keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz a chance. SRH initially looked weak but are now taking shape. The bowling is starting to look lethal and even though the batters haven't been challenged enough they are doing a good job. Kane Williamson getting his form back is incredible news for Hyderabad.
