Slower bouncers, garishness and a lot of responsibility - how SRH are turning Uppal into a fortress
For a lot of people, it may seem as if SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) finally came of age on Friday, April 5, when they beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) - their spiritual ancestor, so to speak - by six wickets in Uppal, Hyderabad.
CSK, long confident of the superiority they enjoy over their lesser-known Chennai-owned half-brothers, lost the plot even as home skipper Pat Cummins emerged out of the darkness to repay the Hyderabad faithful.
SunRisers Hyderabad have now won both games that they have played at home this season and will be confident of extending their run. The Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium was once a fortress when David Warner plied his trade in the Deccan.
It may soon turn into one again with another Australian at the helm, and a rather perceptive Kiwi manning things from the dugout. For all of Daniel Vettori's detractors, this win signifies everything is good in the SRH camp.
Giving Abhishek Sharma the new ball after winning the toss seemed to have surprised CSK, but it was the pace quartet of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Jaydev Unadkat, and Cummins that turned the tale around for the hosts.
The quartet picked up a wicket apiece and only Natarajan conceded runs at an economy rate of nine. The regular spinners - Mayank Markande and Shahbaz Ahmed - conceded more than ten runs per over.
However, to Cummins' great foresight, he saw where the game was slipping and turned - rightly so - back to his seamers who repaid the faith he showed in them. The SRH puzzle - one that surprised fans - seems to have fallen into place now.
The slower bouncer, deployed heavily by those seamers, helped the SRH cause tremendously, as did the veracity of the home supporters seemingly sitting in a sea of yellow - the latter all decked up for a glance of Mahendra Singh 'Thala' Dhoni.
The SRH batters added a touch of garishness and responsibility
![Aiden Markram's half-century helped the SRH chase on Friday. [IPL]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/04/7183d-17123824988548-1920.jpg?w=500)
The SRH batting lineup, which has often been under fire for not turning up when the heat was on, displayed to all and sundry that they can be garish yet responsible at the same time on Friday.
Abhishek Sharma's acrobatics in just the second over of the innings to Mukesh Chowdhary set the tone for the hosts to chase the target of 166 down rather comfortably in the end.
Although Moeen Ali came on and picked up the wickets of Aiden Markram and Shahbaz Ahmed, SRH were able to comfortably buttress their chances of moving towards the top half of the league table.
If it was the slower bouncer that worked effectively for their bowlers earlier in the day, it was Markram's willingness to be patient and build upon the platform that Abhishek and Travis Head built so painstakingly.
This win will give the Eagles - and their long-suffering supporters - the confidence that their project has something meaningful to offer this season and that all hope is not lost.
The usage of four seamers had hurt them immensely at the Eden Gardens in their maiden game this season, but on Friday, that is what helped them out in perhaps the biggest match they will play at home. Long may this sense of responsibility continue.