Sunrisers Hyderabad are locking horns with the Rajasthan Royals in match number 4 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The match is first of the twin fixtures scheduled on Sunday and it was the Orange Army that won the toss at their home ground but invited the Rajasthan side to have a bat first.
However, one thing that caught the attention of the fans was that the players were wearing black armbands in the match. The cricketers and the umpires also observed a minute's silence. Notably, both the gestures were in the honour of the former India all-rounder Salim Durani who passed away earlier on Sunday (April 2), aged 88.
Durani was living with his brother Jahangir Durani in Jamnagar, Gujarat as per a report carried by PTI. He had undergone a proximal femoral nail surgery after he broke his thigh bone in January post a fall. Durani is best remembered for his spell that helped the country register their first-ever Test match victory in the West Indies in 1971 in what was Sunil Gavaskar's Test debut.
In his spell, Durani had dismissed world feared batters Clive Lloyed and Gary Sobers within a few deliveries sending back Sobers for a duck at a crucial stage in the second innings in Port of Spain for India's seven-wicket victory. He was miserly with the ball as well, giving away just 21 runs in the 17 overs that he bowled.
Talking about the IPL match, riding on half-centuries form Jos Buttler, Yashaswi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson, the Rajasthan Royals posted 203/5 in their 20 overs. While they looked set to get more than that, Hyderabad came back pretty well to make sure they are still in the game although it will be a tough ask to score over 10 runs an over from the outset.