Hyderabad: Rajasthan Royals turned in a complete performance as the Pink Brigade outclassed Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in their IPL 2023 match on Sunday.
The genesis of RR’s comprehensive win was in their strong batting effort that saw them posting 203 for 5, first 200-plus of this IPL season. Once their bowlers produced a neat follow-up, Rajasthan restricted SRH to 131 for 8.
The Uppal stadium pitch slowed down as the match progressed and in that context the fifties from three Rajasthan top-order batters were immensely valuable.
RR captain Jos Buttler led their batting in the Power Play with a typically brutal innings — a 54 off 22 balls and that translated into the best batting display in Power Play so far in IPL 2023, 85 runs flowed in for the Royals in that phase.
Fazalhaq Farooqi, the Afghanistan left-arm pacer, ended Buttler’s cameo when he castled him and it was up to the rest of the batters to maintain the momentum. Yashasvi Jaiswal (54 off 37 balls) and captain Sanju Samson (55 off 32 balls) did just that.
They were not as violent as Buttler but ensured runs kept on piling on the board as they reached 139 in the 13th over. The dismissal of Jaiswal did put a temporary break on the RR innings.
But Shimron Hetmyer came up with a 16-ball 22 to take his team past the 200-run mark.
Chahal & Boult hunt in pairs
Trent Boult underlined his prowess under the lights when he produced a peach of a yorker to rattle the stumps of SRH opener Abhishek Sharma in the very first over of the chase.
The Kiwis left-arm pacer induced an edge from Rahul Tripathi in the same over that was gobbled up by Samson behind the stumps, and SRH ended the first over 0 for 2.
It was the worst possible start for a team that was looking to hunt down 204, and SRH hardly recovered from that wobbly start as leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal weaved his magic as well.
Chahal finished with 4 for 17 from his four overs while Boult couldn't add to his tally of two that he picked in the first over of the chase.
