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Titans skipper Henry Davids (64) and Jacques Rudolph (49 not out) put on a century stand to lead their side to a crushing eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Champions League Twenty20 Group B match in Ranchi on Saturday.
The South African side, Titans romped over Sunrisers' total of 145 in just 16.3 overs with two wickets down to give a major boost to their run rate.
The pair took the Sunrisers bowlers to task with a scintillating batting display and transformed the run chase into a cakewalk adding 112 in 12.1 overs at the JSCA International Stadium. Davids continued his good form and reached his second half century of the tournament as he smashed seven boundaries and clobbered four sixes in his 42-ball 64 knock.
Rudolph missed a deserved half century as he remained unbeaten on 49 with three fours and two sixes, while Heino Kuhn (15 off 8) too was unconquered, steering the side home.
Davids' dismissal off Dale Steyn came too late for the Sunrisers as the openers had put the Titans in a winning position. AB de Villiers (9) came out all gun blazing and hit two fours before he was dismissed by Ishant Sharma while looking for another big shot.
For Sunrisers, none of the bowlers barring pacer Steyn could make an impact. Steyn's impressive figures of 1 for 23 in four overs was the only highlight of the Sunrisers bowling which looked ordinary.
The Titans are at second position now after Chennai Super Kings with one more match to go.
Earlier, Titans' pacer David Wiese starred with the ball as Sunrisers Hyderabad blowed away a good start to be restricted to 145 for seven in a crucial tie. Wiese picked up three crucial wickets giving away just 17 runs to bring Titans back into the match after Parthiv Patel (26) and skipper Shikhar Dhawan (37) made a fiery start to Sunrisers' innings with a 62-run opening stand that came off just 39 balls.
Towards the end Dale Steyn came up with a 12-ball 27 to lift the Sunrisers to a modest total. Apart from Wiese, Rowan Richards (1-24) and Henry Davids (1-18) finished with economical figures.
Sent into bat, Dhawan and Parthiv gave away a flying start to Sunrisers' innings. The duo cut, pulled and drove Titans' pacers to all parts of the ground and did not allow them to settle down. They scored majority of their runs through boundaries with the powerplay yielding 60 runs that included nine fours and three sixes.
Dhawan continued his sublime form and got off the mark with a four through the fine leg boundary while Patel slashed Morne Morkel for a six over covers early into his innings. Dhawan smashed seven fours and a six in his 21-ball 37 before he was holed out to Morkel off Wiese.
The Sunrisers lost the plot after Dhawan's dismissal and failed to keep the momentum going as Wiese delivered two more blows in subsequent overs. Wiese cleaned up Parthiv in his next over before sending back Hanuma Vihari.
Seeing Sunrisers stutter in the middle overs, skipper Henry Davids, who had suprisingly bowled the first over of the match, removed Biplab Samantray for a duck. JP Duminy (17) also struggled and failed to find the fence once during his 28-ball stay at the crease. In-form West Indian all-rounder Darren Sammy (1) too persished in pursuit of quick runs before Thisara Perera (11) following suit.
Steyn, however, gave the much-needed impetus to Sunrisers' innings with his quickfire unbeaten knock. He smashed Marchant de Lange for two fours and as many sixes in the final over of the innings to give some respectability to the Sunrisers total.
Image: Titans player Jacques Rudolph gives high five to teammate Heino Kuhn after winning the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Photo: BCCI