Thisara Perera was unstoppable. His unbeaten 32-ball 57 against the charged up Trinidad and Tobago showed his mettle. It looked a tough task for Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase down 161,especially after they lost captain Shikhar Dhawan early. But the Sri Lankan all-rounder guided his team to a four-wicket win with three balls to spare. T-T off-spinner Sunil Narine bagged four wickets,but his efforts went in vain for T&T in their Group B match at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Dhawan was going to be the key player for Hyderabad when they set about their chase; getting him out early was vital for T&T,considering the late evening dew that had the potential to derail the bowling side. After Dhawan and Parthiv Patel had put on 35 in four overs,Narine came on. He struck immediately,Parthiv falling for 17 as he sliced one straight to short third man. Ten runs later,Dhawan was out too,popping a return catch to Navin Stewart off a slower delivery. At the 10-over mark,Hyderabad had reached 70. Their required rate had climbed to 9.1 runs per over. First ball of the 11th over,a run out accounted for JP Duminy. It was here that Perera walked in. He immediately revealed his intentions,smacking Stewart over long on for six off the second ball he faced. Two overs later,he swung Rayad Emrit twice over midwicket,once for four and once for six. The wicket of Hanuma Vihari in the 13th over,bowled by Narine,brought Darren Sammy to the crease. Narine came back in the 18th,to bowl his last over,and dismissed Sammy and Ashish Reddy off successive balls. But Perera was still there,already on 48,having hit three fours and four sixes. With Narines quota completed,the task of scoring 19 from 12 balls wasnt going to be too difficult; in the end,Hyderabad reached their target with three balls to go. Earlier,it was the turn of another southpaw in Darren Bravo to stamp his class all over the ground. With quick and decisive thinking and nimble footwork,Bravo played with swagger,taking on Ishant sharma and Amit Mishra in particular in scoring 66 off 44 balls. The 24-year-old was in his element and hit four sixes and five fours With Bravo in such fantastic form,the others played second fiddle to him,content on giving him the strike. Evin Lewis and Denesh Ramdin scored 20s,but Bravo dominated proceedings as his side finished at 160 for 8. Not his usual self Dale Steyn,who picked up a wicket off the very first ball of the match,was surprisingly not only expensive,going for 41 off his four overs,but also failed to add to his wickets tally. Ishant,Perera and Sammy took two wickets apiece,with the latter two managing to keep the scoring in check,conceding just 47 from their eight overs. Brief scores: T&T 160/8 (E Lewis 22,D Bravo 66,D Ramdin 21; T Perera 2/26,D Sammy 2/21) lost to SRH 164/6 (S Dhawan 23,T Perera 57*; S Narine 4/9).
