RR vs SRH encounter at MCA stadium in Pune was a lopsided affair, with Rajasthan outperforming Sunrises in every aspect of the game.
Rajasthan Royals posted a gigantic total of 210 in the 20 overs owing to some brilliant hitting by Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal and Shimron Hetmyer.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, in reply, fell short by 61 runs that heavily dented its net run-rate in the opening game for the team.
At the toss:
RR VS SRH tossFollowing in the footsteps of other franchisees and their decision to chase and win in the tournament, Kane Williamson chose to bowl first after winning the toss at MCA stadium in Pune.
RR Innings:
Rajasthan Royals fans had their heart in their mouth when Bhuvneshwar Kumar got rid of Jos Butler, but unfortunately for SRH, the bowl turned out to be a no-ball. Butler then scored 35 off 28 and put up a 58 runs stand for the first wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal.
After Jaiswal and Butler, Samson and Padikkal took the reigns of the innings and continued the momentum carried by the opening duo. Sanju Samson blasted the Hyderabad bowlers to score a blazing 55 off 27, including 5 massive sixes.
Devdutt Padikkal batted at the number 4 position for the first time in his IPL career, but that did not make any difference to his run-scoring abilities. He notched up 41, including 2 sixes and 4 fours at a brisk strike rate to take RR closer to 200.
Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag finished the innings in the most Royal way possible. Hetmyer, in particular, was merciless and smashed 32 off just 13 deliveries to help Rajasthan breach the 200 runs mark.
For Sunrisers, Umran Malik and Natrajan bowled well to get two wickets each but could not stop the Royals from posting 210/6 in the RR vs SRH clash.
SRH Innings:
Chasing 210, Hyderabad lacked the self-belief and confidence to hunt for boundaries in the first six overs. Kane Williamson and Rahul Tripathi were sent back to the pavilion in quick succession by the Prasidh Krishna in RR vs SRH encounter.
Trent Boult partnered well with Krishna to get the third scalp for the Royals by removing dangerous Nicholas Pooran on a duck. Both Prasidh and Boult bowled a maiden over in the powerplay to diminish the hopes of Sunrisers.
In the middle overs, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin did not let the SRH batters break the shackles. Chahal removed three batters to completely extinguish the Sunrisers’ spirit.
In the death overs, SRH got a few positives out of the match in the form of Washington Sundar and Aiden Markram’s batting. Sundar, in particular, was explosive throughout his short inning in which he generated 40 runs off just 14 balls consisting of 7 boundaries. Markram remained unbeaten on 57* off 41.
SRH could only manage 149/7 in the 20 overs to start their campaign with a loss at Tata IPL 2022.
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