Nehra's century, Yuvraj's blitzkrieg, Rashid's record and other cool numbers from SRH vs RCB

The opening game of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League began with a bang. No, not the opening ceremony, but the 207 runs put up by defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad after being put in to bat. The top scorer was Yuvraj Singh, who was at his explosive best as he smashed 62 off 27 balls. Three Hyderabad bowlers – Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Afghan teen Rashid Khan – took two wickets. For Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chris Gayle was the highest scorer with 32. In the end, Sunrisers won by 35 runs, quite a big margin in the Twenty20 format. Here are the biggest and coolest stats from the first game of IPL 2017.

Nehra, the centurion

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s veteran Ashish Nehra became the first left-arm bowler to take 100 wickets in the IPL, when he took the wicket of Sreenath Aravind. He’s the eighth bowler overall to reach this milestone and the oldest player to achieve it.

Vintage Yuvraj

Yuvraj Singh scored his fastest fifty in the IPL in only 23 balls. He has previously scored two fifties in 24 balls, both against Royal Challengers Banaglore. This was also the southpaw’s 11th IPL half-century. It’s interesting to note that Yuvraj’s average in Hyderabad in his six previous IPL matches at the venue was a mere 8.67

Prodigious Rashid

Rashid Khan was the toast of the match as the teenager became the first cricketer from Afghanistan to play in the tournament. To add to that, he scalped his first wicket in his very first over when he upset Mandeep Singh’s stumps. Rashid also became the youngest overseas player to make his IPL debut, at 18 years 197 days, after Mitchell Marsh who was 18 years 170 days old.

RCB on recieving end

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 35-run victory was the biggest by any side against Royal Challengers Bangalore in runs since April 2013 when Mumbai Indians beat them by 58 runs at Wankhede.

Warner’s big ton

When David Warner caught Chris Gayle at long-off off Deepak Hooda, he pouched his 100th catch in Twenty20 cricket. He became the 15th player, other than wicket-keepers, to have a century of catches.