Holder’s hits

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  – West Indies Test captain Jason Holder made an instant impact in his first game of the Indian Premier League season, snatching three wickets to help fire Sunrisers Hyderabad to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Jofra Archer’s Rajasthan Royals on Thursday.

After a late call-up almost a month ago following a season-ending injury to Australian Mitchell Marsh, the high-ranking Test all-rounder grabbed three for 33 from his four overs and effected a run out to help restrict Royals to an inadequate 154 for six off their 20 overs.

In reply, Manish Pandey struck a Man-of-the-Match unbeaten 83 and Vijay Shankar, 52 not out, to steer Sunrisers to only their fourth win of the season with 11 balls to spare.

Speedster Archer who bowled superbly to finish with two for 21 off his four overs, removed both openers cheaply to reduce Sunrisers to 16 for two in the third over but Pandey and Shankar put on 140 in an unbroken third wicket stand to deny Royals.

Sunrisers are fifth on eight points while Royals are also on eight points but one from bottom of the eight-team league on an inferior net run rate.

Sent in at the Dubai International Stadium, Royals got 36 from Sanju Samson and 30 from Englishman Ben Stokes, the pair adding 56 for the second wicket after Holder had run out Robin Uthappa for 19 off his own bowling attempting to steal a sharp single. After managing only nine in the first two overs, the Royals looked to step up with Uthappa hitting Sandeep Sharma for a six and a four in the third over, but his innings was cut short by Holder’s brilliant piece of fielding. Stokes looked to dab Holder on the off side but the ball hardly went off the square. Uthappa was keen for a quick single and charged towards the other end with Stokes barely moving. Holder was quick to the ball and nailed the direct hit at the bowler’s end to halt Uthappa’s short stay.

The West Indies Test captain eventually removed Samson in the 12th over, bowled by a slow off-cutter and without a run added in the next over, Stokes perished inside-edging leg-spinner Rashid Khan on to his stumps. Samson hit Sharma for successive cover-driven fours to keep the Royals ticking and it looked like it was going to be his night, especially when he pulled Holder over deep midwicket for a six in 12th over but Holder cleaned him up next ball with an offcutter for a 26-ball 36.

Stokes lived a charmed life. He was 13 off 11 balls at the end of the fifth over and was trying to break free. One such attempt against Shankar fell just short of the deep-backward square leg. Two overs later, he tried a reverse sweep against Rashid Khan that bounced in front of deep backward point. On the last ball of the same over, Shankar put him down while running to his right from deep square leg. Stokes, though, failed to utilise those chances and was finally bowled for a 32-ball 30 by Khan.

Holder then engineered a slide, accounting for Australian star Steve Smith (19) and Riyan Parag (20) off successive deliveries at the start of the 19th over as Royals lost five wickets for 49 runs. Royals were looking at Jos Buttler to provide impetus to the innings but once he fell for 9 off 12, Smith looked to take charge. But he soon holed out to long-on off Holder, while trying to dig out a full delivery. Riyan Parag, who had hit T Natarajan for 4, 6, 4 in the previous over, then mistimed a slower short ball to a back-pedalling Warner at mid-off to give Holder his first three-wicket haul in T20s since 2015

Archer, the Barbados-born England star, provided a flourish at the end, lashing a four and a six in the final over to finish on a seven-ball unbeaten 16.

In reply, Archer removed Australian David Warner for four, caught at slip off the fourth ball of the innings before returning in the next over to claim England teammate Jonny Bairstow for 10, bowled by one that seamed back at high pace.

However, Pandey launched a stunning counter-attack lashing four fours and eight sixes off 47 balls while Shankar supported in a 51-ball knock that included six fours, to put Sunrisers back on track to claim the valuable two points.
(CMC/Cricinfo)