A dominating Rajasthan Royals (RR) silenced the 37,000 home crowd with a massive 72-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Uppal Stadium on Sunday.
RR, last year’s runners-up, made a perfect start to their campaign while SRH fumbled miserably in their opening match.
SRH’s stand-in skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s decision to bowl backfired badly as RR posted 203-5. In pursuit of a big total, SRH’s innings derailed from the first over itself before making 131-8 in 20 overs.
Early blows
Chasing a 200-plus target, SRH were in for an early jolt. New Zealand left-arm seamer Trent Boult removed opener Abhishek Sharma (bowled) and Rahul Tripathi, who wasted a DRS even as he was caught nicely by Jason Holder at wide slip.
RR openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (left) and Jos Buttler during their 85-run stand yesterday. Pic/PTI
SRH’s two new caps Mayank Agarwal (27) and the R13.25 crore Harry Brook were reined in by the more purposeful RR bowlers easily. SRH managed 30 runs in the Powerplay while in contrast, RR rattled up 85 runs in six overs. Brook had a bad debut. He was out for 13, castled by Yuzvendra Chahal. The leg-spinner went on to take four wickets. When Washington Sundar and Glenn Phillips fell cheaply, SRH collapsed to 48-5 in 10 overs.
In desperation, SRH utilised the new impact player rule by bringing the big-hitting Abdul Samad in place of bowling hero Fazalhaq Farooqi. But that did not work for SRH. The RR bowlers were incisive and executed plans beautifully to eke out an impressive win.
RR used the services of fast bowler Navdeep Saini as an impact player, resting half-centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Also read: IPL 2023, mini-auction: SRH bag Harry Brook for Rs 13.25 cr, Mayank Agarwal for Rs 8.25 cr
A two-minute silence was observed in memory of the late Salim Durani at the start of the match. RR’s aggressive opening duo of Jaiswal and Jos Buttler meant business from the first over. Continuing his good form from domestic cricket, the Mumbai left-hander batted solidly while Buttler, England’s short format captain, was in his element.
Quickfire 50
The ball came nicely off the wicket and Buttler went berserk. He pulled and drove as it rained fours and sixes. Striking two successive sixes in off-spinner Sundar’s first over and then hitting four consecutive fours off left-arm seamer Natarajan, Buttler raised his 50 off just 20 balls.
SRH bowlers were clueless and the runs flowed before Farooqi, the Afghanistan seamer, rattled Buttler’s stumps much to the relief of the home team. Skipper Sanju Samson (56 I. 32balls, 3×4, 4×6) kept the momentum going. Batting fluently and hitting the ball cleanly, he had SRH on the backfoot. Jaiswal completed his 50 while RR’s 100 came in 46 balls. Farooqi got his second wicket by sending back Jaiswal, who holed out to deep square leg.
Although SRH managed to stop the runs in the second half, Samson completed his 50 in style. West Indies batter Simron Hetmeyer ensured that RR crossed the 200-mark. For SRH bowlers, it was a nightmare start. There was some consolation when Umran Malik could find his rhythm after change of ends, touching 150km and even rattled left-hander Devidut Padikkal’s stumps with a fast yorker. There was also the on-the-line catch by Abhishek Sharma to dismiss Samson at deep mid-wicket.
Brief scores
RR 203-5 (S Samson 55, J Buttler 54, Y Jaiswal 54; T Natarajan 2-23, F Farooqi 2-41) beat SRH 131-8 (A Samad 32*; Y Chahal 4-17, T Boult 2-21) by 72 runs
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