Thisara Perera exhibits nerves of steel as Hyderabad win by 4 wickets

Perera's knock meant Narine's remarkable spell of 4/9 and Bravo's 44-ball 66 went in vain.

Dragged into the IPL spot-fixing net by a bookie recently,Thisara Perera tonight did as well as he could by producing a stunning counter-attacking half-century,as Sunrisers Hyderabad staged a remarkable fightback to pip Trinidad & Tobago by four wickets in the Champions League Twenty20 here.

Chasing a stiff target of 161 runs,Sunrisers rode on Perera’s unbeaten knock off 57,which came of just 32 balls,to start the main tournament with a win that came with three balls to spare. He struck four fours and as many sixes.

Perera’s knock meant Sunil Narine’s remarkable spell of 4/9 in 4 overs and Darren Bravo’s 44-ball 66 went in vain at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.

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After Perera and Darren Sammy (15) clobbered Rayad Emrit for 23 runs in 17th over,Sunrisers needed 21 in the last three overs. Two wickets,that of Sammy and Ashish Reddy,in the 18th over bowled by Narine,made it 19 off 12.

The 24-year-old Perera managed a boundary off Ravi Rampaul to bring it down to seven off six. Legspinner Karn Sharma,who surprisingly did not get to bowl,made up with the bat as he struck Navin Stewart for a for and the winning six,a pull over deep midwicket,to seal it for Sunrisers.

Sunrisers started the chase in earnest with captain Shikhar Dhawan at the helm. But,25 balls into the innings,the hosts lost their first wicket in Parthiv Patel as Narine struck with his first delivery,having the batsman caught at short third man.

A big wicket came when the dangerous Dhawan was done in by a slower ball form Stewart,who took the return catch gleefully,prompting the Caribbean side to break into celebration. Dhawan picked up three fours and a six.

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J P Duminy and Hanuma Vihari added 25 runs for the third wicket before the experienced South African left-hander was run out by Rampaul in what was another blow for Sunrisers.

What hurt the Sunrisers was that their top-three batsmen got out after getting starts. Chasing a challenging target on a pitch that had some dampness due to rain,the Sunrisers’ top-half needed to do more.