None of the Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen could play an innings of substance as the hosts settled for a modest 142 for eight against Kolkata Knight Riders, in an IPL match, here today.
Sunrisers paid the price of not building partnerships on a wicket that had bounce but still offered plenty to batsmen.
David Warner was the top scorer for SRH, smashing his way to 18 ball 34. The Australian took the KKR attack by the scruff of its neck but could not stay for long at the crease.
Had it not been for some small contributions from Naman Ojha (22) and Irfan Pathan (23 not out), SRH would have struggled to get close to 150-run mark.
KKR bowlers, specially the spinners were disciplined and skipper Guatam Gambhir rotated them brilliantly. Paceman Umesh Yadav (3/26) and left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan (2/22) shared five wickets between them.
Earlier, Aaron Finch (8) was far from convincing as edges flew of his bat. One such edge off a moving delivery from Umesh Yadav was superbly taken by Morne Morkel at third man.
Dhawan, who was relived of captaincy, yet again failed to build on a start as his edged off Narine was taken by Gambhir on second attempt.
The left-handed opener was striking the ball clean and elegantly. His cover drives off Morkel were simply majestic even as he was guilty of playing a few rash shots.
On the other end, Ojha took some time to settle as SRH reached 41 for two in the power-play overs.
Warner, who has rescued SRH on many occasions, straight away lifting Shakib for a six over long on. Ojha treated Ryan Ten Doeschate the same way and also launched Hasan for a massive straight six, getting some quick runs for the side. However, he too frittered away the start, handing a simple catch to Yusuf Pathan at point.
Gambhir brought on his best bowler, Narine to put more pressure on SRH batsmen, but Warner kept going for his shots, smashing the West Indies spinner for a big six.
Warner found two boundaries in Morkel's over but Lokesh Rahul (14) was trapped by Piyush Chawla. Paceman Yadav returned and got rid of dangerous Australian to reduce the hosts to 104 for five, bringing new captain Darren Sammy (7) in the thick of action but he too disappointed.
