Sunrisers Hyderabad Skipper Kane Williamson struggled with his elbow in IPL 2021, which hampered his run-scoring ability.
Kane had not looked in great touch in IPL 2022 too, registering scores of 2, 16 and 32 in SRH's first three matches. His 32 off 40 balls against the Chennai Super Kings seemed a laboured effort.
But on Monday, SRH rode on Williamson's sublime 57 which included 4 sixes and 2 fours and Abhishek Sharma's fluent 42 to register their second victory of the season and hand Gujarat Titans their first defeat.
This was SRH's second successive victory; on Saturday, they had defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings to get off the mark on the points table.
Chasing 163, SRH made a slow start to the chase by scoring just 11 runs in four overs.
Williamson escaped when an LBW shout was not reviewed; replays suggested the ball would have hit the stumps. He was then on two.
However, SRH ended the powerplay with a flourish -- Williamson hit Mohammed Shami for a four and a six in the next over before Sharma ended the sixth over by hitting Lockie Ferguson for four fours -- and ended the first six overs with 42 runs on the board.
While Williamson anchored the innings, Sharma took charge and made a 32-ball 42 before he was dismissed by Rashid Khan (1/28).
Williamson and Rahul Tripathi (17*) added 40 for the second wicket before the latter retired hurt after hitting a six.
Williamson looked in fine touch and in the 13th over launched into Hardik Pandya, hitting him for two sixes. Then, in the 16th over bowled by fellow Kiwi Lockie Ferguson, the Sunrisers captain clobbered a six and a boundary.
Williamson took 42 deliveries to get to his half-century, but was deceived by Hardik Pandya and holed out to Shami in the deep.
His dismissal did not affect SRH as Nicholas Pooran finished the job for the 2016 champions. He played a quick-fire cameo of 34 in just 18 balls to ensure an eightvwicket win for his team.
Williamson was rightly named player of the match for his 46-ball knock.
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