Rajasthan Royals looked completely at home in their 72-run away win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second afternoon match of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday. After posting an impressive 203/5, RR successfully defended the total with SRH never in the contest — their unbeaten ninth-wicket stand of 36 (13b) was the Hyderabad franchise’s highest — and by that time, the match was out of their grasp.
If the scorching sun beating down on the largely unprotected stands of the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium in Uppal wasn’t enough, the RR opening batters added to their misery. Everything from the knuckle ball, to yorkers just off the mark, to length balls were brutally punished as Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal took control in the six overs of Powerplay.
An usually attacking Buttler was even more destructive on the flat pitch. Hitting the ball to all corners of the park, Buttler brought up his 50 in the sixth over. At the other end, his batting partner was operating just the way he had been all season in domestic cricket for Mumbai. Jaiswal gave Buttler solid competition with his array of wristy flicks and immaculately timed drives. In the first five overs, RR had raced to 73/0.
SRH in the absence of their new captain Aiden Markram, who is still busy on international duty, were led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The India medium pacer, of late, has been feeling the heat with his diminishing pace and this wasn’t the pitch where he could showcase any of his T20 tricks. With no swing on offer, Kumar had to take himself off the attack in two overs after conceding 23 runs. Washington Sundar and T Natarajan were even more expensive giving away 19 and 17 runs in their respective opening overs.
RR registered their most productive Powerplay returns (85/1) in the history of the tournament.
RR, who fell in the final hurdle in the last edition, looked driven to take a firm grip on the match. Captain Sanju Samson walked out at No 3, replacing Buttler who was out for 54 (22b, 7×4, 3×6), to keep the left-right combination going. SRH introduced their new leg-spinner Adil Rashid as soon as Buttler was gone and Samson, with a not so favourable record against leg-spin had to face Rashid.
Samson gave the English spinner the respect he deserved for two overs and used Umran Malik’s raw pace to his advantage, garnering runs from the other end. Finally, when Rashid dragged one down in the eleventh over, Samson was quick to pounce on it with a six over deep mid-wicket. By then, he was middling everything on offer. Sundar’s off-spin was punched for six off the back foot over long-off. Rashid was deposited in the same region off the front foot.
Samson was dismissed for 55 (32b, 3×4, 4×6). Jaiswal too got a fifty — 54 (37b, 9×4) — which kept RR’s run flow going. Some useful death overs from Farooqui (4-0-41-2) and Natarajan( 3-0-23-2) made sure their batters had a fighting chance on a good surface. But they needed a good start.
That wasn’t to be. Trent Boult (4-1-21-2) found the swing that Kumar didn’t. And RR were two wickets down in the first over itself. SRH batters were unable to provide any momentum to their run chase. Their big money-buy Harry Brook 13 (21b), in his first IPL outing didn’t look anything like the slayer of international attacks he has been. Yuzvendra Chahal drove home the advantage with another skilful display, his well disguised wrong’uns helping him with figures of 4-0-17-4.
