Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Jason Holder hogs the limelight in his IPL return

After a three-year-long hiatus from the Indian Premier League, Jason Holder marked his return with an impressive bowling effort to take Sunrisers Hyderabad over the line against Rajasthan on Thursday.  

Playing his first match of the tournament, Holder chalked out the figures of 3/33 from his quota of overs. He came up scalped wickets at crucial junctures of the Rajasthan Royals’ innings and restricted them to 154/6.

Sunrisers, who are struggling at the penultimate spot in the points table with only three wins from nine outings, opted to bowl after winning the toss at the Dubai International Stadium. 

Put in to bat, Robin Uthappa looked in rampaging form, hitting the first four and six of the innings. He quickly raced to 19 off 13 balls.

However, his time in the middle was short-lived. 

With his first contribution of the game, the West Indian skipper effected Uthappa’s run out as the Indian was late to turn back at the non-striker’s end. 

Next in the 12th over, Holder bagged the wicket of Sanju Samson with a slow off-cutter, as broke the 56-run stand between Ben Stokes and the Kerala-born. 

After Jos Buttler, who was touted to go big, fell quickly for 9 off 12, RR skipper Steven Smith looked to take the charge.

However, the number one test all-rounder had a plan of his own. With a fullish delivery, Holder scalped Smith’s wicket (19 off 15 deliveries) and soon followed it up by sending Riyan Parag to the pavilion and claim his first three-wicket haul in T20s since 2015. 

With his crucial scalps, Holder destabilised the RR innings. Rashid Khan (1/20) and Vijay Shankar (1/15) picked a wicket each to follow the trail.

“Good to get a game. It’s been a long time, a few years off the IPL circuit, good to be back. I was pleased with the way I bowled. I tried not to be too predictable. It was an opportunity to get wickets in the back end,” he told the host broadcasters during the mid-innings break.

Lauding Holder’s exploits, SRH skipper David Warner said in the post-match interview, “Jason adds an extra string to our bowling. His height. His experience. And he couldn’t bat today, but he is an all-round package. It is just great to show people that we do have a middle-order. For them to come out and play like this, I am so happy for them.”