Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan carve out SRH hollow with a butter knife

Song of ice

The batting of Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill belongs to a beauty pageant contest and not the pugilists’ ring that is often T20 cricket. For forty balls that gathered 82 runs, they stroked their runs frictionlessly, as though the concept of power hitting did not float even in their subconscious. The pair purred, hitting gaps with broad brushstrokes of a portrait painter than the heavy hacks of a lumberjack.

Sudharsan, lean and languid with whirly wrists, crunched a few effortless singles, before marvelling and frustrating Mohammed Shami with an array of splendorous fours. He tested him with a short ball on body, he hefted it through mid wicket with just a neat horizontal swipe, without even transferring his weight onto the back foot. A length ball later, Shami tested him with another short ball, this time outside the off-stump. All he saw was the Buddha-blade of Sudharsan slashing it past point. Shami cursed himself, and cussed himself even more, when the 23-year-old cracked three more fours, the last pair no more than an extended dab through third man. Those were not strokes that incensed bowlers, but made them numb.

Captain Shubman Gill provided blazing start with glorious 76(38) 🔥

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Suddenly, from six off six balls, he was on 27 off 13. It’s not his ability to punish the merest of boundary balls, but how economically he does those. The risk in his stroke-play is minimal, in that he contrived to choose the simplest shot for the surest four. Next over, he greeted Harshal Patel with a gorgeous straight drive, before putting three more to the fence. “I’m trying to time the ball rather than smash it. Touch is good, so I’m getting the distance,” he revealed the essence of his batting during the break.

His partner and captain Gill would enthusiastically cheer him, but showed he was capable of weaving shots of similar magnificence. The flicked six off Shami in the first over was just an appetiser. He conserved his most heart-melting shots for Pat Cummins, whom he greeted with a pair of crunching cover drives. The first conformed to the conventions, high back elbow and front foot striding out. The second, when the ball was pitched wider and less fuller, was swat-drove, breaking his wrists as peak Virat Kohli would in his pomp. In the next over, he disdained him by shuffling across and twirling the ball through midwicket.

Sai Sudharsan provided early momentum with breezy 48(23) 🌪️

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By then, Cummins had tried every fast bowler on a pitch supposedly aiding them with a tinge of lateral movement. A few balls did buzz, but the bowlers hadn’t the discipline to coax assistance off the black-soil pitch. Clumsy fielding and shoddy catching (Jos Buttler was the beneficiary twice) did help them, as Gill raged along even after Sudharsan’s departure.

The lull of rebuild later—a streak of eight runs in as many balls—he took on the tormented Shami again. By then, the seamer was bowling way beneath his usual pace radar. After picking a four through mid-wicket, Gill just shimmied down the track, as though to a spinner and walloped him over extra cover to complete his third half-century on the spin. He had a few chuckles at the expense of Patel and Kamindu Mendis, before wasting his wicket to a lethargic run out, when a hundred was winking at him.

But he had steered his team to an indomitable position—149/2 after 13 overs. Jos Buttler came and then compiled a characteristic knock of belligerence to soar the total 200. His 64 off 37 was composed like a star boxer’s demolition act, all heaves and biffs.

Song of fire

As long as Abhishek Sharma batted, Sunrisers’ hopes of orchestrating another heist lingered. He had endured fluctuations of form this season, as is expected with someone who is not risk-averse. Hence, five of his 10 outings were single-digit scores. But their best moments in the league have been inextricably linked with him. His 141 against Punjab Kings is Sunrisers most memorable innings of the season.

At times, a dilemma had seized him. Whether to tone down his aggression or continue with his full-throttle ways to revive his form. The confusion resulted in a string of poor scores. Even here, he didn’t attack every single ball. He waited for those balls he could unleash his percentage shots, like the thump down the ground, the slash through extra cover or the slap past point. His first three boundary strokes were all sixes, measured rather than manufactured shot-making. There was even a 12-ball phase when his lone boundary was a top-edged four.

Abhishek Sharma led SRH’s fight with a solid 74(41) 👏

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But with the required run-rate mounting, he raised the ante and hammered sixes off Gerald Coetzee and Rashid Khan to inject momentum into the chase. But a tired, mis-timed pull off Ishant Sharma stubbed the last flickering hope of Sunrisers. With Coetzee removing Ishan Kishan and Prasidh Krishna nailing Heinrich Klaasen, the comeback door was firmly shut on their faces.

The match would go down as another lost opportunity to re-anchor a sinking ship. Hope had sprung when Abhishek and Travis Head ransacked 49 runs in 4.2 overs. The stingless paces of Titans bestowed them with juicy half-volleys and delicious short balls the belligerent pair tucked into with relish. Abhishek carved and cracked through the off-side. One shot in particular stood out. He glided out of crease, manufactured some space to free his arms and mauled Ishant Sharma through covers. Having overhauled 245 runs in 18.3 overs against Punjab Kings last month, the start promised a thrilling climax.

But Rashid Khan intervened with an astounding catch to eject Head. He sprinted back a dozen yards from his perch at deep square-leg, nearly over-ran it before regaining control and snaffling the ball. It was the moment of inspiration the listless crew of Titans’ bowlers required. The deck was a batting beauty, with little lateral movement for seamers with the new ball or grip for the spinners early. The bounce was true and the pace easy for batsmen to turn the 22 yards into an abattoir for bowlers of all hues.