Hyderabad Despite posting 198/2 on board, Rajasthan Royals (RR) bowlers couldn’t hold on as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) clinched the game by five wickets with an over to spare in the IPL here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Friday.
David Warner (69, 37b, 9×4, 2×6) and Jonny Bairstow (45) once again provided the platform with their second century-run partnership before Vijay Shankar (35) played an anchor’s role to bring the team within the required run rate. Yusuf Pathan (16 n o) and Rashid Khan (15 n o) finished the game for SRH.
Earlier, it was Sanju Samson (102 n o, 55b, 10×4, 4×6) who smashed the first century of the ongoing IPL and together with skipper Ajinkya Rahane (70, 49b, 4×4, 3×6) stitched a century stand to guide Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a mammoth 198/2.
Samson didn’t spare a single SRH bowler and remained unbeaten to notch up his second IPL ton. His first century in the T20 tournament came in 2017.
Opening the batting after winning the toss, Rahane led from the front and together with Samson shared 119 runs for the second wicket to set the base for the total after the early dismissal of Jos Buttler (five).
Introduced into the attack in the fourth over, Rashid Khan (1/24) struck with only his second ball, cleaning up dangerman Buttler around his legs.
After Buttler’s dismissal, skipper Rahane was joined at the crease by Samson and the duo played cautiously without taking any undue risk to take Rajasthan forward.
While Rahane played the anchor’s role, Samson opened up his arms soon and smashed two sixes in consecutive overs of Shabaz Nadeem (1/36) and Siddharth Kaul (0/32) to give some momentum to Rajasthan’s innings.
Both Rahane and Samson paced their innings to perfection, as after playing cautiously initially, they broke their shackles when needed and notched up the team’s 100 in 11.5 overs.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 198/2 (Sanju Samson 102 n o, Ajinkya Rahane 70) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 201/5 (David Warner 69, Jonny Bairstow 45) by five wickets.
