A vintage Yuvraj Singh blasted a quickfire half-century to help champions Sunrisers Hyderabad outclass a depleted Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 in the opening match of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
Yuvraj hammered Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers to submission with 27-ball-62 as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a commendable 207 for 4 in their 20 overs.
RCB, who elected to bowl after winning the toss, were without captain Virat Kohli and batting mainstays AB de Villiers and KL Rahul.
RCB's top four --- Chris Gayle (32), Mandeep Singh (24), Travis Head (30) and Kedar Jadhav (31) were all set before getting out. Kedar's dismissal was the turning point as RCB were never in the match after that.
The India international was looking dangerous during his 16-ball stay and was run-out when Ben Cutting's direct throw from the deep found him short by a metre.
On a belter where pacers became easy prey for the batsmen, Sunrisers skipper David Warner rotated his spinners well trying to take the pace off the deliveries.
Young Rashid, who created history by being the first Afghan to play an IPL match got Mandeep with a fuller delivery that didn't turn.
The batsman trying to cut got an inside edge onto the stumps, while Rashid also got Travis Head when the batsmen tried to play a slog sweep.
But Deepak Hooda got the most important wicket when he got Gayle trying to hit him over long-off for a second six only to be caught by Warner. The wickets fell at regular intervals and there was no pressure on Sunrisers as they coasted to victory. Ashish Nehra (2/42) also got a couple of wickets to reach a personal milestone of 100 IPL victims.
In reply, RCB were bowled out for 172 with Afghanistan's debutant leg-spinner Rashid Khan picking up two wickets, while pacers Ashish Nehra and Bhuvneshwar Kumar also claimed two wickets each.
On a batting beauty, Yuvraj smashed the RCB bowlers to cleaners after Srinath Aravind dropped a dolly at deep square leg boundary. Yuvraj was on 26 then and the let-off allowed him to score his fastest IPL half-century off 23 balls.
Moises Henriques' 52 off 37 balls also went a long way in contributing to Sunrisers' total. The Yuvraj-Henriques pair added 58 runs runs in only 4.5 overs after Shikhar Dhawan (40) was involved in a 74-run stand for the second wicket with the Australian all-rounder.
Yuvraj's innings had seven fours and three sixes while Henriques' innings had three fours and two sixes.
Skipper David Warner started with a couple of boundaries and huge six over long-on off left-arm seamer Aniket Chaudhary but was gone when his slash was taken by a leaping Mandeep Singh at backward point.
Dhawan smashed rival skipper Shane Watson for four boundaries in the final Powerplay over to set the tone.
Henriques at the other end chanced his arms to hit a six over long-on off Travis Head. Once Dhawan was caught in the deep off Stuart Binny's delivery, Yuvraj came in and immediately went on the attack.
Rajasthan's Chaudhary, who has been with the India camp came in for special treatment including a lofted extra cover drive for a six apart fom two fours in a single over.
Aravind, who dropped him, bowled a back of the hand slower that was dispatched over midwicket. A widish delivery from Chaudhary was slashed past point to reach his half-century from just 23 balls.
IPL's million dollar boy Tymal Mills was flicked past short fine leg and once again picked the slower delivery into the deep square leg stands before becoming his first victim.
India's T20 specialist Yuzvendra Chahal, who picked one for 22 in four overs, held his own without conceding a single boundary while debutant Mills claimed one for 31 in four overs as he bowled the maximum (11) dot balls.
