Web Report
Dubai – A magnificent half century from Yuvraj Singh helped the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in the opening match of the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League in Hyderabad.
Yuvraj’s superb 27-ball 62 helped Hyderabad post a massive total of 207 for four after RCB stand-in captain Shane Watson had won the toss and elected to field.
But Bangalore were all out for 172, giving Hyderabad an easy win in the first match of the tournament.
The writing was on the wall once Chris Gayle 32 (21 balls) was dismissed by off spinner Deepak Hooda. Travis Head (30) and Kedar Jadav (31) failed to convert their starts as Heyderabad kept taking wickets at regular intervals.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan (40) and one-down Moises Henriques (52) made up for the early loss of skipper David Warner (14) with a 74-run second-wicket stand after being sent in to bat at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here.
Singh (62), then joined the run feast and together with Australian all-rounder Henriques brought up another 58-run stand for the third wicket to take the hosts past the 150-run mark by the 15th over.
Before, Rajasthan left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary could not have asked for better IPL debut when he induced Warner with some swing to be comfortably caught by Mandeep Singh at backward point. The southpaw’s eight-ball knock was laced with two fours and a six.

Then it was Dhawan and Henriques all the way, taking SRH past 50 in just five overs, as the visitors found it tough to handle the left-right combination.
Dhawan, who has been out of the India selectors’ radar for quite a part of the domestic season, unsettled the RCB bowlers with his 31-ball knock comprising five fours, including four from RCB skipper Shane Watson’s first over.
RCB had to wait until the 11th over to get their second wicket when Dhawan failed to clear the long-on boundary off Stuart Binny to be caught by Sachin Baby.