A brilliant all-round performance helped Rajasthan Royals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in the Indian Premier League at the Dr. YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium on Thursday. Royals, thus, maintain a clean slate, having won four on the trot. Chasing a modest target of 128, Royals got off to a decent start with openers Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson putting on 64 before the latter fell to a brilliant diving catch by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha off Ravi Bopara’s first ball.
Leg-spinner Karn Sharma offered some hope by removing Royals skipper Steven Smith early, but it was not just good enough to prevent defeat.
There was some drama and excitement when five runs were needed in the final over off Praveen Kumar.
The Uttar Pradesh paceman bowled brilliantly, conceding four runs off five balls. But James Faulkner hit a boundary off the last ball to trigger celebrations in the Royals dug-out.
Rahane showed his class again, finding the gaps regularly. His 62 off 56 balls contained nine fours.
Earlier, Royals’ ploy of putting the rival in paid off thanks to a disciplined bowling effort from pacemen Tim Southee and Chris Morris and the 43-year-old leggie Pravin Tambe.
Warner looked in ominous touch, hitting Chris Morris for three fours in the second over of the innings. But, a brilliant effort by Rahane left him stranded at the striker’s end while trying to take a sharp single.
Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan fell cheaply when Dhawal Kulkarni forced him to snick into wicketkeeper Sanju Samson’s hands.
With the two big-hitters gone, SRH was in a spot of bother.
K.L. Rahul was all at sea before being trapped lbw by Kulkarni to reduce SRH to 35 for three in 5.1 overs.
Lucky OjhaA fourth-wicket stand of 52 off 55 balls between Naman Ojha and Eoin Morgan lent some respectability to the total. Ojha could have done better, after getting two ‘lives’; he was caught off a no-ball from James Faulkner and then dropped by Deepak Hooda in the deep off Tambe.
But the leg-spinner had the last laugh, rattling the stumps with a beauty. Tambe then struck another blow, trapping the dangerous-looking Morgan in front. SRH was reduced to 96 for five in 16.3 overs.
It could have been worse but for a couple of big strokes towards the end by Bopara and Ashish Reddy, who put on 31 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket off 21 balls.
