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Following his side's win over Rajasthan Royals (RR), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Pat Cummins, who made his return to the IPL with a one-wicket spell, delivered a humorous remark on life as a bowler in T20s in modern era and hailed Ishan Kishan's leadership skills while handling a group of young pacers in his absence as a stand-in skipper.
Cummins' return was a good sign for SRH as the Men in Orange soared to the third spot in the points tally with a five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday. While the bowlers were at the receiving end of a beatdown from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel, fifties from Ishan and Abhishek helped team to cruise to a five-wicket win. Speaking on his return, Cummins said during the post-match presentation, "Really happywith the win. You are never quite sure how it is going to come out first game. Preparations were good." With a record-breaking 229 runs chased at Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium, with bowlers across both teams getting poor returns, Cummins had a hilarious remark about life as a bowler in T20s these days, saying, "Ah, I do not know. We need to start working on our batting." Speaking on the young Indian seamers like Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain and Nitish Kumar Reddy standing up for the team in times of trouble in his absence under leadership of Kishan, Cummins said, "They have been awesome. Ishan led them beautifully. We got Harshal (Patel)and Jaydev (Unadkat) who started this season well. I feel like we have got a really good dug-out there full of bowlers but the young guys have been awesome. There were clear plans, and they did well." Lastly on a concluding note, Cummins hailed his team's batting unit, particularly Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, saying, "We got off to a flyer in the powerplay and then it was just 10 runs per over. Abhishek, Ishan and these guys scored runs pretty quickly. We have got a very calm and confident group," he signed off. After SRH opted to bowl first, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (103 in 37 balls, with five fours and 12 sixes) and Dhruv Jurel (51 in 35 balls, with eight fours and a six) put the foot on the pedal with a 112-run partnership. A cameo from Donovan Ferreira (33 in 13 balls, with three fours and three sixes) towards the end took RR to a fine 228/6. Eshan Malinga (2/38) was the pick of the bowlers for SRH, while Pat Cummins, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain and Nitish Kumar Reddy got a wicket each. Sakib, however, leaked 62 runs in his spell. During the run-chase, after early dismissal of Travis Head (6), a stand of 132 runs between Abhishek Sharma (57 in 29 balls, with 11 fours and a six) and Ishan Kishan (74 in 31 balls, with 11 fours and three sixes) and knocks from Heinrich Klaasen (29 in 24 balls, with three fours and a six) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (36 in 18 balls, with two fours and three sixes) took SRH to a win by five wickets and nine balls to spare. SRH has jumped to third spot with five wins and three losses, including 10 points, while RR is at the fourth spot with the same win-loss record, with a poorer net-run-rate keeping them down. (ANI)
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