Holder, Williamson carry Sunrisers to Qualifier with Delhi

Sunrisers Hyderabad 132 for 4 (Williamson 50*, Siraj 2-28) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 131 for 7 (de Villiers 56, Finch 32, Holder 3-25) by 6 wickets

Abu Dhabi: Jason Holder enjoyed a fine outing with the ball and bat while Kane Williamson scored a fine 50* as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) set up a Qualifier 2 clash with Delhi Capitals (DC) after beating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets in Eliminator of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Needing 132 runs to win, SRH lost their first wicket in the first over after Shreevats Goswami got out for 0 off Mohammed Siraj’s bowling.

While RCB kept the things tight in the first two and half overs, Manish Pandey creamed six off Siraj in the third over to help SRH make a move. In the two overs, Manish and David Warner hit four fours between them.

Warner started the final over of the powerplay with two fours through the off-side. But the SRH skipper got out in the same over after the third umpire overturned the on-field decision.

RCB squeezed the flow of runs in the next three overs, conceding just 8 runs and got the wicket of Manish Pandey as AB de Villiers completed a fine catch behind the wickets off Adam Zampa’s bowling.

Yuzvendra Chahal, bowling the 12th over, then dismissed Priyam Garg to put SRH in a spot of bother.

Jason Holder joined Kane Williamson in the middle as SRH needed some stability and quick runs without losing any wickets.

Williamson then hit the first boundary for SRH after the powerplay as he went over deep mid-wicket to hit a maximum. The right-hander added one more six to his account as SRH moved to 97/4 at the close of the 16th over.

With 35 runs needed from the last four overs, Williamson’s deft touches and some sensible batting by him and Holder saw SRH score 17 runs. The Williamson-Holder duo completed a fifty-run stand, scoring nine runs off the penultimate over.

Navdeep Saini conceded just a run on the first two balls of the final over. With 8 needed off the last four deliveries, Holder kept calm and creamed two successive fours as SRH sealed a six-wicket win with two balls to spare.

While Williamson scored an unbeaten 50 and Holder scored 24 not out, the duo’s unbroken stand of 65 runs powered SRH to Qualifier 2.

Earlier, SRH, who elected to bowl, brought in Shreevats Goswami in place of injured Wriddhiman Saha. Meanwhile, RCB made as many as four changes to their playing XI as Navdeep Saini, Aaron Finch, Moeen Ali and Adam Zampa replaced Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Shahbaz Ahmed and Josh Phillipe.

Virat Kohli opened the innings with Devdutt Padikkal. But the RCB skipper got out in the second over after he gloved a Jason Holder delivery and was caught by Shreevats Goswami. The West Indian added one more wicket to his account as he dismissed Devdutt Padikkal in his second over.

While Aaron Finch, who completed 2000 IPL runs, and AB de Villiers added 41 runs to take RCB past fifty, SRH struck twice in the 11th over. Shahbaz Nadeem dismissed Finch for 32 after the right-hander was holed out in the deep. SRH then struck on a free-hit as Rashid Khan’s brilliant direct-hit caught Moeen Ali short of his crease.

ABD though continued to put a solid fight and added 37 runs together with Shivam Dube. However, the left-hander got out in the 16th over as Holder scalped his third wicket of the match. ABD then brought up a well-compiled half-century.

SRH though continued to chip away as T Natarajan bowled a two-wicket over. First, the left-arm pacer had Washington Sundar caught in the deep and then, with a brilliant yorker, got ABD out for 56 in the 18th over before SRH eventually limited RCB to 131/7.