IPL 10: Sunrisers thrash Lions

Kanpur: Defending champions Sunrisers  Hyderabad cruised into the Indian Premier League play-offs  with an easy eight-wicket victory over Gujarat Lions riding on  a throughly professional team performance.

After pacer Mohammed Siraz and Afghan leg-spinner Rashid  Khan played a key role in dismissing Lions for a paltry 154 in  19.2 overs despite a century opening stand, skipper David  Warner (69, 52 balls) and Vijay Shankar (63, 44 balls)  anchored the chase to perfection with 11 balls to spare.

Sunrisers thus finished their league campaign with 17  points from 14 games.

Gujarat Lions' forgettable season after a questionable  team composition for the better part of the tournament saw  them finish the engagements at second last place with 8  points.

It was a 133-run third wicket stand between Warner and  Tamil Nadu one-day captain Shankar that sealed the issue after  Shikhar Dhawan (18) and Moises Henriques (4) were dismissed cheaply.

They never showed any urgency yet got their boundaries  without ever letting the scoreboard pressure bother them.  Warner hit nine boundaries while Shankar also smashed nine  fours, matching his skipper stroke for stroke.

In fact, such was the ease that Sunrisers batsmen didn't  hit a single six but the 23 boundaries were enough for their  successful run chase.

Pradeep Sangwan was easy pickings for Shankar as the  Sunrisers batsman hit him for some impressive pull shots  whenever he pitched it short.

Leg spinner Ankit Soni (0/31 in 2.1 overs) -- one of the  questionable selections this season -- was hammered whenever  he pitched it short. Soni, who couldn't even make it to Mumbai  U-23 squad, looked out of place throughout the tournament.

Fittingly, Warner disdainfully smashed him over his head  to finish off the match.

Earlier, Siraz and Rashid Khan triggered a batting  collapse to skittle out Gujarat Lions for 154 in 19.2 overs  after a century plus opening stand between Ishan Kishan and  Dwayne Smith.

Siraz (4/32 in 4 overs) and Rashid (3/34 in 4 overs) were  brilliant in the back-10 as Lions were down in the dumps after  a 111-run opening stand between Kishan (61 off 40 balls) and  Smith (54 off 33 balls).

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/25) and Siddharth Kaul (1/30)  polished off the tail.

But in a baffling collapse, Lions lost all 10 wickets for  an addition 49 runs in the last 10 overs after a whopping 105  in the front 10.

Initially, it was Kishan, who was carting the bowlers all  over the park, hitting five fours and four sixes in all. It  wasn't the best innings but he was still managing to find the  boundary.

Anything short on his pads was pulled imperiously. Smith  on his part also hit a couple of sixes off Mohammed Nabi and  Rashid Khan.

The opening stand raised visions of a big total but a  Rashid flipper saw Smith wrapped on the pads going for a  pull-shot only to be adjudged leg-before.

Kishan top-edged an ambitious pull-shot off a Siraz  delivery only to be pouched by Naman Ojha.

It was the start of a baffling collapse with some  atrocious shot selection from the likes of Suresh Raina and  Dinesh Karthik. From 120 for 1, suddenly Lions slumped to 120  for 4 and Sunrisers took full use of the opportunity that they  got. The mini-slump turned out to be decisive as only Ravindra  Jadeja (20 no, 14 balls), remained stranded on one end.

Scorecard
Gujarat Lions: D. Smith lbw b Rashid Khan 54, Ishan Kishan c Ojha b Mohammed Siraj 61, S. Raina c Dhawan b Mohammed Siraj 2, D. Karthik c Hooda b Rashid Khan 0, A. Finch b Rashid Khan 2, R. Jadeja (not out) 20, J. Faulkner b Mohammed Siraj 8, P. Sangwan b Mohammed Siraj 0, Ankit Soni b Kaul 0, P. Kumar b Kumar 1, M. Patel b Kumar 0. Extras: (b 1, lb 3, w 2) 6. Total: (in 19.2 overs) 154.
FoW: 1-111, 2-120, 3-120, 4-120, 5-123, 6-142, 7-142, 8-153, 9-154.
Bowling: Kumar 3.2-0-25-2 (1w), Siraj 4-0-32-4, Kaul 4-0-30-1 (1w), Nabi 3-0-17-0, Rashid 4-0-34-3, Henriques 1-0-12-0.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: D. Warner (not out) 69, S. Dhawan c Faulkner b Kumar 18, M. Henriques c Karthik b Kumar 4, V. Shankar (not out) 63. Extras (lb 3, w 1) 4. Total (for 2 wkts, in 18.1 overs) 158.
FoW: 1-20, 2-25
Bowling: Praveen 4-0-22-2 (1w), Sangwan 4-0-37-0, Faulkner 2-0-24-0, Patel 3-0-22-0, Jadeja 3-0-19-0, Ankit 2.1-0-31-0