Rashid's leg spin, Warner's force tame Gujarat Lions; Sunrisers claim top spot

Photo: BCCI New Delhi: David Warner and Moises Henriques made merry on a platform set by leg spinner Rashid Khan as Sunrisers Hyderabad thumped Gujarat Lions by 9 wickets in an IPL match in Hyderabad to rise to the top of the table. Sunrisers knocked off the paltry target of 135 with 27 balls to spare. Warner muscled his way to a 76 off 45 balls and Henriques scored 52 off 39 balls. The home side got off to a flying start courtesy Warner and Dhawan. The left handers took Suresh Raina for 21 in the third over of the innings. Dhawan, though lost his wicket to Praveen Kumar in the very next over for 9. Sunrisers’ No. 3 Henriques walked into the middle and played a perfect supporting role to David Warner’s brutal force. The all Indian bowling attack of Gujarat Lions was all at sea. They have now taken only 1 wicket in 2 matches. The decision to include Kerala medium pacer Basil Thampi and debutant leg-spinner Tejas Baroka did not bore fruits as they were tonked all around the park. The job for Surisers, was however done by Rashid Khan earlier in the evening, who returned with staggering figures of 3 for 19 in 4 overs. The 18-year old Afghan leg spinner used his wrong one to perfection. He rattled the Lions top-order with wickets of Brendon McCullum (5), Aaron Finch (3) and skipper Suresh Raina (5) in the 5th, 7th and 9th over of the innings. Rashid, now has got 5 wickets in 2 matches and has already become a force to reckon with. Gujarat captain Suresh Raina admitted that they lost the match to the young leg spinner. “I think the young Afghan leg spinner made the difference. Had not seen much of him and he bowled really well,” said Raina after Gujarat slumped to their second humiliating defeat of the season.