As it happened - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Gujarat Titans, IPL 2022

Puts down a catch and then bowls a leg-side length ball that Pooran helps one bounce to the fine leg boudnary. A ball later, he brings out his delicate wrists into play to help a short ball on its way for sic over deep backward square leg. Left leg in the air - Natraja style - a twirl of the wrists to get it to where he wanted. Lockie's pace and timing caried it all the way.

The catch Lockie put down was off the same delivery with which he roughed Pooran fopr pace. A top-edged pull swirled in the air. Lockie decided to go for the catch late and by the time he put in a dive, it was too late. Sunrisers need 14 off 13.

As convincing as a win can get. They stifled the Titans, restricted them to 162 and then chased it down without much fuss. No panic, calm heads, steady platform and then the final flourish. Titans have slumped to their first loss of the competition. If they dig deep, they'll look back at the score and wonder if they got enough. They will also do well to reflect on the kind of role their captain, Hardik, is playing with the bat. Do they want him to bat restrictively and hold on end up or be the freewheeling maveric that he is? Can he have the freedom to bat the way that has brought him most success? If he has to, who can shoulder the batting responsibility? Quite a few questions to answer.

Williamson perishes trying to launch over long-on with Sunrisers needing 34 off 23. Markram and Pooran, two new batters, at the crease.

What a way to get there. The anchor supreme decides he's had enough of knocking it around. Gets across the stumps and scoops New Zealand mate Lockie Ferguson over the keeper's head for six. It's taken him 42 balls to get there but this is a chase tailormade for his style of play, and he hasn't deviated from his plans one bit. The six is followed by a disdainful clear-the-front-leg-and-wallop slap through extra cover. The wheels are coming off the Titns now.

Rahul Tripathi has retired hurt with what seems to be a right calf niggle. He appeared to have cramped badly, forcing the physio to come in to examine him. He wasn't moving freely but decided to bat on. In the 13th over, he was put down by Shami running around the third man boundary. Shami didn't move an inch even as the ball descended. This elicited an angry outburst from Hardik. As if to add insult to injury, Tripathi walloped the first ball of the next over for six before he decided he just couldn't carry on. Pooran and Williamson to do the finishing job then? Equation an acceptable 55 off 36.

Off his first over, Abhishek walloped a perfectly acceptable length ball from Rashid one bounce over the extra cover fence. He returns soon after to have him drag a pull towards the long boundary, with deep midwicket taking a dolly. That has broken a threatening 64-run stand that has put the Sunrisers well on their way towards victory. But the game isn't over by any means.

Lockie Ferguson, the man who can potentially challenge Umran Malik's 153kph thunderbolt for the fastest ball of the match, has been given quite a welcome. From no boundaries till the 4th, Sunrisers suddenly have five fours and a six in the next two overs.

Lockie's first reads like this:

How will they approach Rashid Khan, ex-Sunriser? Exciting stuff.

Williamson has pushed and prodded. Abhishek Sharma hasn't looked entirely convincing. He has been hustled for pace, stung by late movement, has pushed at deliveries with hard hands. All this amounted to a quiet start. From no boundaries in the first four, Williamson opens his shoulders to wallop Shami for a four and six off the first two balls of the fifth. Sunrisers are up and running. The six, in particular, was a stroke he superbly anticipated. Got into position quickly and took him on to hook Shami for six.

"That was bloody close."

Pardon my average lipreading skills, but it seemed as if Matthew Wade was dead certain Kane Williamson was a prime lbw candidate. Here's what happened: not committing himself fully forward, Williamson was beaten on the inside edge and was struck on the pad. Hardik Pandya consulted Wade, but eventually didn't go up because he thought there may have been an inside edge.

Williamson hardly gave away much. He was stone faced, allowing the fielding team to go all the guessing. Eventually, the giant screen throws up a replay that has Wade mumbling "I told you so". Three reds. So had the Titans reviewed, Williamson would've been gone.

Natarajan runs out Tewatia and castles his former team-mate Rashid in a final over that costs Sunrisers only seven runs. He ends with 2 for 34 and Titans with 162 for 7. Batting isn't SRH's stronger suit, and Manohar reckons that Titans can defend this total with their potent bowling attack.

Abhinav Manohar took Natarajan for 12 off eight balls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali final last year. Abhinav finished with 46 off 37 in that game. He has now taken Natarajan for 11 off 4 balls, including a six, when the left-arm seamer missed his yorker. Manohar, though, is riding his luck. He has already had three lives: on 21, 32 and 33. A Sunrisers fielder - Tripathi it is - finally hangs onto a catch to dismiss Abhinav for 35 off 21 balls.

Marco Jansen puts David Miller out of his misery in the 14th over, having him flap a catch to short midwicket for 12 off 15 balls. Miller advanced at Jansen, but he banged it into the middle of the pitch and bested Miller. Hardik is on 37 off 29 balls at this point, Titans on 104 for 4

Wade has managed only 56 runs in four innings at a strike-rate of less than 100. Gujarat have a like-for-like replacement in Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The Afghanistan wicketkeeper-opener is uncapped at the IPL but has been an intent machine in the powerplay in various leagues around the world. Gurbaz has a T20 strike rate of 151.82. His List A strike rate of 97.70 is also impressive.

Umran Malik's first ball to Hardik is a lifter that pings him on the grille of the helmet. The physio/team doctor rushes onto the field, but Hardik gestures to him that he's fine. He shakes that blow off with back-to-back fours. There's no dearth of action this over as Malik pins Wade lbw from around the wicket. Wade was camping back for the short ball, this is full, fast and thudding into his pad. Titans are 64 for 3 in eight overs

Four and out. Natarajan and Sai Sudharsan are part of the same team in the TNPL: Lyca Kovai Kings. Natarajan, however, missed the most recent season with injury. The left-arm seamer drifts a full ball on the pads, which is put away to the boundary by Sai Sudharsan. The next ball from Natarajan is on a hard length and kicks up at Sai Sudharsan, who can only plop a catch to mid-off for 11 off 9 balls. Hardik closes out the powerplay with a four. Titans are 51 for 2 in six overs

Shubman Gill set to work with a shovelled four off Jansen in the second over, but falls in the next to Bhuvneshwar. This was a pitched-up delivery that largely held its line outside off, Gill drills it through the line. It seemed destined to race away to the fence...until Tripathi leapt to his left from short cover and pulled off a stunning one-handed catch. Tripathi's intervention draws applause from Moody and Lara in the SRH dug-out. Gill gone for 7 off 9 balls

Sai Sudharsan joins Wade in the middle. So, Williamson matches them up with his Washington. The offspinner draws a chance immediately, but Abhishek Sharma can't hang onto a difficult catch at backward point; Wade was on 10 at that point.

The first delivery from Bhuvneshwar is an outswinger which snags Wade's outside edge but rolls away past slips to the third-man boundary. The second is an inswinger that veers down the leg side for five wides. Bhuvneshwar tightens up against the right-handed Gill and tests him with some outswing. He then loses his line again Wade once again, giving up five wides. Uncharacteristic first over from Bhuvneshwar - 17 runs off it

Kane Williamson wins the toss and elects to bowl first once again, citing the dew factor. Australian allrounder Sean Abbott is out of quarantine and is available for selection, but SRH stick to the XI that beat CSK on Saturday.

Gujarat Titans are unchanged as XI. It is not clear whether Vijay Shankar has recovered from back spasms. The talented B Sai Sudharsan gets another game for Titans

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Abhishek Sharma,2 Kane Williamson(capt), 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Nicholas Pooran(wk), 5 Aiden Markram, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Marco Jansen, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan

Gujarat Titans: 1 Matthew Wade(wk), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 B Sai Sudharsan, 4 Hardik Pandya(capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Abhinav Manohar, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Darshan Nalkande

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