The Obvious Non-Favorites!!

By Harshdip Singh

Match – 3 – Pune vs Hyderabad

The first match of the team with the new team owner. New Jersey came with new zeal. The passion for cricket was still the same as it was when they were the champions in the 2nd season the IPL. Sunrisers Hyderabad lead by the classy, Kumar Sangakkara were put to bat first on a batsman friendly wicket after Pune Warrior’s skipper Angelo Matthews won the toss.
Pune Warriors is again the costliest team of the IPL, owned by Sahara group and has a flurry of stars in the team. The most familiar and loved player being Yuvraj Singh. All eyes were on him after his comeback from cancer.
That being said, you will not find a lot of supporters supporting either of the teams to win the championship-one reason being neither team has a lot of popular Indian stars.
So, the Sunrisers start their innings quite briskly in the first quarter of the match with India’s 2003 World Cup Wicket Keeper, Parthiv Patel. Wickets do fall after a brisk start , as is usually seen in the IPL . Some misjudgments and poor decision of shots, make it quite difficult for Sunrisers to get through. Yuvraj chips in with a couple of overs and gets a wicket too. A little late burst from the spontaneous Perera, scoring 30 off 18 deliveries slightly raise them up and Sunrisers end with 126 in the 20 overs given.
Now comes the time to see some action. A quite easy target to achieve, with some big names in the side of Pune- Yuvi, Utthappa, Ross Taylor, Samuels.
But you can never rule out the No. 1 bowler in the world currently, Mr. Dale Steyn.
An awesome spell of bowling in the beginning from Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma, makes it quite difficult for the Warriors and causes much trouble to the scorers. Then on trying to break free, the first wicket of Utthappa falls to Perera. After him, another one goes and Yuvi enters or rather comes out to a big roar from the crowd. But then goes back quite soon after getting stranded to a quicker from Amit Mishra.
No definite partnership and continuous fall of wickets make it damn difficult for the Pune Warriors. The Warriors actually never get going. They are always on the back foot. In fact they never matched up to the requirement of a T20 match.
The part-timers do a good job for the Sunrisers and keep everything in check. So in the final 15 deliveries, of which 6 would be from Dale Steyn, 28 runs were required for Pune Warriors to win with just 3 wickets in hand. One of the wicket being of the skipper of the warriors, Angelo Matthews. The other end is guarded by the new Indian boy, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.
With the same momentum going, this looks like it’s going to be an easy win for the Sunrisers. But does it all happen what seems in the IPL ? NEVER..
So does this match have the ingredient of going down to the wire. The 19th over which was from Dale Steyn was a decider for this.
And he does it! He takes the last 3 wickets in 4 deliveries to finish off the match with a win for the newly called team. Awesome Dale Steyn !!
The IPL format is too harsh on the bowlers, but when you see Dale Steyn bowling, he makes everything look so easy for the bowlers. A big  salute to this awesome ‘talent’ of the game!
Dale Steyn! Take a bow! You are a genius.
Amit Mishra gets awarded the Man-of-the-match for a good bowling spell. But personally, Perera deserved it more, as an asset to the team.
Look on, come back tomorrow for the next match reviews and updates. 
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