Sunrisers Hyderabad, with some help from that marauding fast bowler Dale Steyn, rose from the ashes of the Deccan Chargers to post their first ever victory in the Indian Premier League at the first time of asking.
Playing in their own backyard at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, the brand new franchise pulled off a 22-run win over Pune Warriors India in a low-scoring encounter, which lacked the fizz and panache that you normally expect of an IPL game.
Needing just 127 for a win, after Pune's bowlers had restricted the Sunrisers to 126 for six from their 20 overs, the away side fumbled and stumbled to a forgettable loss, crashing to 104 all out in 18.5 overs.
The problem with chasing a low total is that sometimes you don't know whether to go all out in the first six overs, or start cautiously, keeping the wickets intact knowing that you can chase down the total in the last few overs.
PWI, the wooden spooners of last season, probably went about it the wrong way, taking a little too much time to get their runs on the board -- although they were up against the best bowler in the world in Steyn in the opening overs - as Robin Uhtappa and Manish Pandey, in particular, got stuck a little.
Once Uthappa, a free flowing batsman at his best, got out for a 22-ball 24, it was all the Sunrisers as Pune made a complete mess of their chase.
Steyn, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra and Thisara Perera all bowled admirably, tying down the away team's batsmen while also picking up wickets at regular intervals, which in turn increased the pressure with every passing over.
At 50 for four in 11.2 overs, the Sunrisers were in complete control, before Pune threatened a mini-revival through Ross Taylor and Abhishek Nayar.
However, once Nayar and Taylor fell to the bowling of Mishra and Ashish Reddy respectively, the curtains were as good as drawn on the Pune innings as Steyn (three for 11) finished things off in style, picking up the final three wickets in four balls.
In the first innings, the bowlers strangled the Sunrisers with great effect, restricting them to a sub-par total.
The opening partnership of Parthiv Patel and Akshath Reddy showed much promise, with the pair putting together 34 runs in a little over five overs.
Once Patel got out, clean bowled to Ashok Dinda, skipper Kumar Sangakkara (15 in 16 balls) and Reddy went along slowly but surely building that platform for the final assault in the last few overs.
However, as is the case with this Sunrisers team - the franchise might be different, but it is essentially the same squad, which finished second bottom last season - there was not enough quality once the Sri Lankan veteran lost his wicket to the excellent Rahul Sharma.
Sharma (one for 21) and the rest of the bowlers took complete control of the middle overs, with Cameron White and Reddy finding it hard to even find the singles, as dot balls became very much the norm rather than the exception, as is normally the case in T20 cricket.
Once Reddy and White lost their wickets, the Sunrisers were precariously placed at 83 for four, desperately needing someone to play that little gem of an innings.
Perera, a man who is well capable of doing just that, threatened to cut loose with a couple of monster hits, but his 18-ball 30 just wasn't enough to propel the Sunrisers to a total nearing 140, as Dinda (two for 29) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (one for 17) bowled the last couple of overs admirably.
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Source: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/454155/20130406/ipl-2013-score-surisers-hyderabad-pwi-steyn.htm
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