Continuing their winning streak, Sunrisers Hyderabad hunted down a hapless Faisalabad Wolves by seven wickets to qualify for the group stage of the CLT20 at PCA Stadium on Wednesday.
Sunrisers shut the doors on the Pakistani team, which lost its second straight match. Wolves along with Kandurata Maroons of Sri Lanka will return home after playing an inconsequential match on Friday. With two wins each, Sunrisers and Otago Volts clash on the same day to decide the toppers of this qualifying group.
It was a powerful display by the Sunrisers. Electing to bowl, they pinned down Faisalabad Wolves to 127 for five. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was the only batsman to defy the attack and hit a valiant, unbeaten 56.
In their modest chase, captain Shikhar Dhawan (59 off 50 balls, 6x4, 1x6) and Parthiv Patel batted with flourish to dismantle the Wolves attack. The two raced away to a 68-run opening stand. Patel was out pulling a short one into Khurram Shehzad’s hands. But Dhawan was on a roll.
There was no element of excitement usually associated with any Indo-Pak match. But there was a marked improvement at the start of the innings by Wolves. The opening pair of Ammar Mehmood and Ali Waqas raised 48 in 7.2 overs. The two leg-spinners, Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma who didn’t get to do much against Kandurata Maroons, were called into action and struck immediately.
Mishra lured Waqas to doom with his second delivery. The left-hander went for a big hit and was caught by Ashish Reddy at deep square-leg. Karan, who is quicker through the air, too tasted success in his first over by trapping Asif Ali in front. Man of the Match Mishra impressed with his flight and variation.
The spinners put the brakes on and the Wolves struggled. It was left to skipper Misbah to defy the odds. He showed his class by hitting sixes off Karan, Mishra, Darren Sammy and Thisara Perera. He reached 50 by pulling Perera for the second time over the mid-wicket boundary for his fifth six.
For Sunrisers, Dale Steyn, though did not take wickets, got back into some sort of rhythm. He gave away only 20 runs.