M40 was played at the Dubai International Stadium where the unpredictable Rajasthan Royals faced against the not-so-in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad. With some close encounters by the Royals previously, it’s expected that they bounce back on this match as they were facing the last team placed in the league’s point table. It was Rajasthan who won the toss and chose to bat first.
The RR captain’s brilliant knock
With Evin Lewis opening along with the young Yashasvi Jaiswal yet again for RR after missing the last match, it was seen that it wasn’t the kind of start the Royals expected.
Lewis departing back to the pavilion after a bold dismissal by the dangerous Bhuvneshwar Kumar striking early for the Sunrisers.
After that, the reliable Sanju Samson taking the guards and playing beautifully along with the young Jaishwal to contribute more than 50 runs for the team.
During the 8.4 over, Jaiswal was bowled by Sandeep Sharma. He scored 36 runs from 23 balls and striking at a super rate of 156.52.
After that, the monster hitter Livingstone from RR also left the show leaving the batting to Samson and Lomror.
It was both of them (Samson and Lomror) with a partnership of more than 70 runs that helped Rajasthan set a target of 164/5 in 20 overs.
Samson played a brilliant captain’s innings where he scored a stunning 82 of 57 balls striking at a rate of 143.85 – this inning made him wear the orange cap, the man with the highest no. runs in IPL 21 so far. It is seen that Samson has been leading his boys from the front but the team is unable to provide overall positive performance.
From SRH, the bowlers contributed uniformly while Siddharth Kaul took two wickets- including the dangerous Sanju Samson.
Explosive chase by the orange army
With Jason Roy back into the line-up for the Sunrisers proved to be a positive addition for the side. Both Roy and Wriddhiman Saha opened for SRH with a boom. Hitting around the ground they were seen to be explosive until the fifth over of the second innings when they made a partnership of 57.
At the end of the power-play, SRH was seen to be at a comfortable score of 63/1.
It was Mahipal Lomror who struck from RR taking W Saha with a sweet dismissal behind the stumps. It was just the beginning of the sixth over when Lomror struck bringing the great Kane Williamson into the middle.
Building a beautiful partnership of more than 50 runs along with Roy, it was during the 12th over when Chetan Sakariya struck for RR. Jason Roy played a beautiful inning and helped RR to win comfortably. He scored 60 runs playing 42 balls with a strike rate of 142.85. Also, scoring 8 boundaries including a six to build his innings.
After Roy’s dismissal, Abhisekh Sharma played a reliable inning along with the skipper Williamson to reach their desired target.
Williamson played a captain’s knock of unbeaten 51 runs from just 41 balls striking at a rate of 124.39.
On the other end, it was Abhisekh Sharma from SRH who remained unbeaten on 21 runs from 16 balls and striking at a rate of 131.25. They reached their target with nine balls remaining along with seven wickets.
The SRH batsmen were seen to be very calm and composed today which is the opposite of what we’ve seen throughout the season. The SRH have had a terrible season so far with only two wins considering today.
With the ball from the Royals, it was Mustafizur, Lomror, and Sakariya who took one wicket each. The bowling from RR today couldn’t be seen impacting at all, as in their previous encounters.
The constant change in the line-ups along with the absence of the in-form pacer Kartik Tyagi could also be a reason for such results from the man in Pink.
With this win, the Sunrisers might be planning to leave the competition with some pride through such promising encounters.