Quite articulate for an 18-year old. Can't imagine what the scenes would be like in Afghanistan. Hope you enjoyed our coverage. Quick turnaround before we're back for the second game of the evening between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. Cheers
Rashid Khan is the Player of the Match. He has a big smile on his face as he walks in with the purple cap. "It's a positive message back home in Afghanistan. Their players have helped me. The crowd here have given me a lot of support and love. Happy to be a part of the Sunrisers. The coach and the captain asked me to bowl whenever I'm comfortable. I told them I'm happy to bowl at any stage. I thought batsmen weren't going to read my googlies and tried it, and it worked."
"Fantastic effort by the bowlers, credit to Rash," says David Warner. "I wanted to try him in the first six, and he said 'give me the ball.' He's a superstar in the making, adds great dynamics to our team. With Fizz unavailable, he's stepped up and filled the gap. One of our key strengths isn't just keeping teams to low totals but also take wickets. The one thing we try and do well is to try and chase it down early if it's a low total."
Rashid Khan dismissed Raina, McCullum and Finch in this match - a total of 7954 IPL runs between the batsmen before today. This is the second-highest such aggregate in the IPL. Dhawal Kulkarni had dismissed batsmen worth batsmen worth 8215 IPL runs in a match against RCB last season (Gayle+Kohli+Rahul+Baby), which is the highest
"We haven't put enough runs on the board," says Suresh Raina. "The Afghan legspinner bowled really well. We haven't seen much for him. This wicket was slow, we started well but then Rashid struck. Dinesh and Smith did well, but 135 wasn't going to be enough. We need to raise our bowling. If we can't do that, I don't think we deserve to finish in the top four."
SD: "Two matches, two 100+ run partnerships conceded. One lost by 10 wickets, and this one by 9 wickets. That's the sorry state of affairs with GL's bowling "attack" without Jadeja and Bravo."
This sadly has been one-way traffic. The man chiefly responsible for that is Afghanistan's Rashid Khan, who foxed Lions with the googlies and legbreaks alike to pick three wickets. Defending a modest total, Lions needed wickets, but the inexperience of their slower men cost them. David Warner and Henriques have strolled home without breaking into a sweat.
END OF OVER:15 | 5 Runs | SRH: 131/1 (5 runs required from 30 balls, RR: 8.73, RRR: 1.00)
- Moises Henriques49 (37b)
- David Warner70 (44b)
- Shivil Kaushik4-0-29-0
- Dhawal Kulkarni2-0-17-0
Fazalrabi : "After Warner's excellence, is there any chance Rashid Khan will get player of the match award?" That's a no-brainer. Surely has to be Rashid
END OF OVER:14 | 6 Runs | SRH: 126/1 (10 runs required from 36 balls, RR: 9.00, RRR: 1.66)
- Moises Henriques46 (33b)
- David Warner68 (42b)
- Dhawal Kulkarni2-0-17-0
- Tejas Baroka3-0-24-0
Cow Corner: "The difference between Rashid and Baroka is that Rashid was bowling at around 95 kmh which really fizzed through the surface while Baroka is bowling at under 85 which is picked easily by the batters." Trajectories, yes
7000 runs in T20s for Warner
Before today, Warner had hit fifty-plus scores in 16 of SRH's 25 wins in the IPL. This one is likely to be 17th in 26 wins
END OF OVER:13 | 11 Runs | SRH: 120/1 (16 runs required from 42 balls, RR: 9.23, RRR: 2.28)
- David Warner64 (38b)
- Moises Henriques44 (31b)
- Tejas Baroka3-0-24-0
- Basil Thampi2-0-21-0
Rak: "GL's NRR is really poor and this match will push it further to abysmal depths. They will surely lament their first two losses if they lose out on playoff berth due to NRR."
