It was the turn of Rajasthan Royals to showcase their hospitality for Sunrisers Hyderabad as the 2 sides met again. The Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur was the venue for the 28th match of IPL 2018 and once again, SRH proved their strength in the bowling department as they halted RR from achieving a mediocre total.
Going against the trend, the SRH skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat first on a scorching day. Shikhar Dhawan, who had been struggling for runs, departed quickly again in just the 3rd over. The 2 overseas batsmen Alex Hales and Williamson then brought solidity to the innings.
The skipper led the way
The duo mixed caution with aggression and built a solid partnership. After 11 overs, the score read 78/1 and that’s when Williamson went after the bowlers and also brought up his fifty. Hales, who was subdued in his approach thus far, tried to up the ante and lost his wicket in the process for 45 in the 14th over.
Ish Sodhi, playing his first game, caught the big fish Williamson for 63 in the 15th over. The scoring rate was under the control of the hosts and Jofra Archer then came to the fore by removing the dangerous Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan in the 18th over. Manish Pandey and Rashid Khan also fell in the bid for big shots and the visitors were restricted to 151/7 after 20 overs.
SRH have had a history of defending low totals courtesy their inspired bowling line-up and yet again, they were up for it. In the defense of their total, Sandeep Sharma provided the early breakthrough in the form of Rahul Tripathi for just 4. The pressure was applied on the RR batsmen as they could muster 43/1 after the powerplay.
The Turning Point
The skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson constructed a decent partnership and shared a stand of 59 runs for the 2nd wicket. But Siddharth Kaul brought the side back in the game by sending back Samson for 40 in the 10th over. To add to the misery of RR, Ben Stokes was castled by Yusuf Pathan for a duck.
The departure of the 2 experienced batsmen hurt the hosts badly and all of a sudden, there was a spring in the steps of the bowlers. Rahane held the fort from one end but he witnessed the fall of Jos Buttler for 10 in the 14th over as the score reached 96/4. With 56 required from the last 6 overs, there was hope as long as Rahane was in the middle.
Mahipal Lomror could score just 10 runs from 11 balls and the required run rate just kept creeping up. The SRH bowlers once again held their nerves and restricted the opposition 11 runs short of the target. Rahane remained unbeaten at 65 but the inability of the other batsmen to support him didn’t help the cause of RR and resulted in a defeat.
Match Summary
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bat first
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 151/7 in 20 overs
Kane Williamson 63 (43), Alex Hales 45 (39)
Jofra Archer 26/3 (4), Krishnappa Gowtham 18/2 (4)
Rajasthan Royals: 140/6 in 20 overs
Ajinkya Rahane 65* (53), Sanju Samson 40 (30)
Siddharth Kaul 23/2 (4), Sandeep Sharma 15/1 (4)
Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 11 runs
Player of the Match: Kane Williamson
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