Cameron White and Thisara Perera's slambang approach during the final five overs saw Sunrisers Hyderabad reach a competitive 161 for six against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a Pepsi Indian Premier League match here today.
White and Perera added 80 runs in only 7.2 overs to take the new IPl franchise to a comfortable position. While White clobbered three fours and three sixes in his 34-ball-52, Perera hit four huge sixes and a four in his knock of 40 which came off only 24 balls.
The last six overs of the innings produced a whopping 77 runs as Sunrisers had scored only 84 in their first 14 overs.
The duo came together in the 11th over with the scoreboard reading 62 for three. They didn't take risk initially but created a launchpad for a furious assault on the RCB bowlers.
The turning point was the 16th over of the innings bowled by Moises Henriques that yielded 18 runs. The two bowlers who came out unscathed from the Perera-White onslaught were veteran spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (1/23) and India discard Rudra Pratap Singh (3/27) who gave away only 50 runs in their 8 overs taking four wickets between them.
The bowler who went for maximum was Ranganath Vinay Kumar who gave away 43 in his four overs. Normally, considered as a safe bet in T20 matches, Vinay Kumar's length deliveries were sent soaring into the stands by Perera.
The start wasn't a good one for the home side as they lost Akshath Reddy (12) caught by Vinay Kumar at the edge of the circle at mid-off RP's bowling.
Parthiv Patel (20) was sent back by Murali who foxed the left-hander with a doosra.
Sangakkara scored 23 off 24 balls before he was caught by Virat Kohli at cover when he tried to get a move on as Perera and White joined hands for a splendid partnership.
