Hardik Pandya scored a half-century in competitive cricket after quite some time. He also picked up the prized scalp of his counterpart Kane Williamson at a critical phase of the game at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Monday.

Yet, that wasn’t enough for Gujarat Titans as Sunrisers Hyderabad prevailed over them by eight wickets and with five balls to spare.

A bulk of the credit for the Sunrisers’ second straight win, after losses in their first two games, would go to skipper Williamson (57 off 46 balls), who began accelerating just when it mattered apart from being prudent in terms of shot selection.

The Titans had earlier posted 162 for 7. Like Hardik (50 not out off 42 balls), Williamson’s strike rate too wasn’t really magnificent, but he came up with the right strokes at the right time that went on to make the difference.

Hardik, getting off to starts in the previous three matches, had begun well once again. But he couldn’t really live up to his reputation as a big-hitter, especially in the slog overs of the Titans’ innings after they were put in to bat.

However, there were a couple of occasions when the Sunrisers could have suffered in terms of rhythm during their chase of a tricky total. Rahul Tripathi (17), coming at No.3, hurt his calf immediately after launching Rashid Khan for a maximum and had to retire hurt. Then, after Williamson’s departure, the Sunrisers still needed 34 off 23 balls.

But Nicholas Pooran (34 not out off 18 balls) and Aiden Markram (12 not out off 8 balls) held their nerves and unleashed some good strokes that took the Sunrisers’ points tally to four while subjecting the Titans, who are now fifth with six points, to their first defeat in their debut season.

Young opener Abhishek Sharma (42) too made an important contribution for the Sunrisers. Abhishek smoked Lockie Ferguson for three boundaries in a row off the New Zealand quick’s very first over that gained the Sunrisers some much-needed momentum in their run chase.

Natarajan excels

It was left-arm quick T. Natarajan (2/34) who again turned out to be the pick of the Sunrisers bowlers. If not for the let-off to Abhinav Manohar (35) in the 18th over of the game, Natarajan could have had even better figures. He denied the Titans a good 10 runs at least and his death bowling stood out once more.

His yorker-length deliveries denied Hardik extra runs in the slog overs, while he also mixed his length without relying just on the yorker, allowing just one boundary to the dangerous Rahul Tewatia in the final over of the innings.