Rising Pune Supergiants’ seam bowlers, led by Ashok Dinda, used the fresh Hyderabad surface as an ally to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 118 for 8, before producing a dominant batting performance to seal a 34-run win via the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Sunrisers were reduced to 32 for 5 after mild showers delayed play by an hour. Dinda, brought in for Ankit Sharma, struck off the fourth delivery to dismiss David Warner, Sunrisers’ highest scorer, to set the tone for the evening. He later dismissed Aditya Tare and Naman Ojha to finish with 3 for 23. In the chase, Faf du Plessis and Steven Smith overcame the early loss of Ajinkya Rahane by putting together 80 off just 55 balls to derail Sunrisers.

Rain returned to bring a premature end to the game with Supergiants needing 25. It was the 18th win by a chasing side in 22 games this season.

Dinda, making his debut for Supergiants, removed Warner with a wide delivery that was cut straight to backward point, eliciting a Christiano Ronaldo-like celebration. Mitchell Marsh swung the ball both ways to leave the batsmen searching for runs. The pressure of an unproductive Powerplay resulted in loose shots from Tare and Eoin Morgan as Sunrisers slipped to 27 for 3.

Sunrisers’ innings went from bad to worse when Deepak Hooda gloved a reverse sweep off R Ashwin’s first delivery to MS Dhoni. In the next over, Moises Henriques was strangled down leg to leave Sunrisers at 32 for 5.

Supergiants did not concede a boundary from the sixth over till the 14th, with R Ashwin conceding 14 in four straight overs. It was only the third time he completed his full quota this season.

Shikhar Dhawan and Naman Ojha milked the bowling, but the inability to find boundaries forced them into playing the big shots. Dhawan, who was dropped by Rahane at long-off in the 15th over, carried on to post his second fifty of the season, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided the finishing touches – his eight-ball 21 gave Sunrisers momentum going into the break.

Bhuvneshwar wasn’t done yet; he gave Sunrisers some hope in the chase with a wicket-maiden in the first over, after having Rahane caught at backward point. However, Smith and du Plessis capitalised on loose bowling, hitting 11 boundaries in the next seven overs to all but finish the game. Mustafizur Rahman, Warner’s trump card, was also taken apart by Smith’s wristy flicks.

Du Plessis’ fluent knock ended when he edged behind for 30. Dhoni, who got off the mark with a muscular hit over mid-on, nailed a cut straight to backward point off Ashish Nehra soon after just as the drizzle got heavier. The players scurried off immediately with Supergiants at 94 for 3, comfortably ahead of the D/L par score of 60.