David Warner (76*) and Moises Henriques (52*) helped Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Gujarat Lions by 9 wicket in their Indian Premier League match on Sunday.
Shikhar Dhawan fell to Praveen Kumar for nine runs in the third over after which Warner and Henriques stitched a 108-run partnership to beat Gujarat at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
While this was Hyderabad's second win in as many matches, last year's top-four finisher Lions now have had two defeats in a row.
It was Rashid's 3 for 19 that helped Sunrisers restrict Lions to a paltry 135 for 7 in 20 overs and then Warner blasted his way to an unbeaten 76 off 45 balls to finish the match in 15.3 overs.
Dwyane Smith (37), Dinesh Karthik (30) and Jason Roy (31) were the major contributors to the Gujarat cause.
For Hyderabad, leg-spinner Rashid Khan scalped three wickets, taking his overall tally to five, thus earning him the purple cap. Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up two wickets while veteran pacer Ashish Nehra chipped in with one wicket.
Put in to bat after losing the toss, Gujarat openers Roy (31) and Brendon McCullum (5) gave a steady start as both batsmen scored 35 runs in five overs.
But soon, change in bowling did the trick for the hosts, as McCullum, who was struggling at the crease, was trapped leg before wicket by Rashid Khan.
In the next over, Roy, who slammed five boundaries in his 21-ball knock, was sent packing after being caught by Shikhar Dhawan at the midwicket off Shikhar Dhawan’s delivery.
Skipper Suresh Raina (5) Aaron Finch (3) also failed to step up to the occasion as both were adjudged leg before wicket off Rashid in back to back overs.
With Gujarat tottering at 57/4 in nine overs, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik (30) and Dwyane Smith (37) played the sensible innings by rotating the strike and punishing the bad balls.
The duo built a 56-run partnership for the fifth wicket to steady the fort before Smith was caught at the deep mid-wicket by Vijay Shankar.
Nehra then broke Gujarat's hopes as he dismissed Karthik soon after Smith.
Dhawal Kulkarni (1) was run out by Rashid in the same over. With two overs remaining and Gujarat reeling at 117/7, the lower-order only managed to add 18 runs. Basil Thampi scored 13 runs and Gujarat Lions totalled 135/7 in their allotted 20 overs.
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