Rajasthan Royals started their Indian Premier League 2023 campaign with a decisive 72-run thumping of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader. The victory was aided by fifties scored by the top three batsmen as well as a clinical bowling effort.
After being called in to bat first in Hyderabad, RR reached a dominant total of 203/5. The foundation for this score was established by RR’s skipper Sanju Samson (55 runs off 32 balls), opening batsman Jos Buttler (54 runs off 22 balls), and Yashasvi Jaiswal (54 runs off 37 balls). The defense got off to a good start when Trent Boult bowled a double-wicket maiden, and the spinners, headed by Yuzvendra Chahal’s four wickets for 17, slowed the pursuit in the middle overs to limit the home team’s score to just 131/8 in their reply.
Buttler gets fifty, Farooqi gets Buttler
After his opening partner Jaiswal had already smashed a flurry of boundaries in the first three overs, the England white-ball skipper got things moving with a stunning 81-meter six to get the innings off to a strong start. SRH was forced to make bowling changes at both ends, but they were hardly able to find any respite. Washington Sundar was greeted with two consecutive sixes, while Natarajan allowed Buttler to score four boundaries in a span of five balls. Buttler responded to the return of Fazalhaq Farooqi by hitting him for three more fours and reaching his half-century off of 20 balls with the second of those fours. But, it was the Afghan pacer who got the last laugh when he eventually managed to find a breakthrough for his team and put a stop to the fireworks displayed by the Englishman. Buttler’s innings of 54 from 22 balls included seven fours and three sixes, laying the foundation for RR’s best-ever performance in the Power Play, which was 85/1.
Samson assumes the position of the attacker in this scenario.
On his initial stint, Adil Rashid provided a little bit more respite by bowling two overs with a score under ten. Nonetheless, there were very few things working in the favor of the pacers. Umran Malik, who was called in to bowl the 8th over, let up a total of 12 runs in his first two overs. Samson punished the short balls there, and because to his perfect timing, the score for the team was boosted to 100 in the eighth over. He did this by hitting back-to-back fours. Samson seized over and continued to hit sixes despite the fact that Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal were dismissed in rapid succession. This allowed Samson to guarantee that the run rate remained above 10 on a constant basis. Jaiswal advanced to his own fifty off only 34 balls. He reached his half-century off 28 balls in the 17th over of the innings.
The second half saw SRH put an end to RR’s surge.
SRH was able to put a stop to RR’s forward motion first by restricting the unimpeded flow of runs, and then by hitting at consistent intervals. At the other end, Farooqi and Malik had already delivered vital breakthroughs, which slowed down SRH in the overs between 11 and 15, where just 38 was scored. After that, Natarajan joined the fun at the end of the game by using his slower deliveries to get Riyan Parag to top-edge and half-centurion Samson caught at deep midwicket in consecutive overs. RR didn’t break the 200-run barrier until the last ball of their innings, when Farooqi missed a yorker and Hetmyer smacked the half-volley down the ground. This was always a possibility, but it didn’t happen until the penultimate ball of their innings. Even though there were only 43 points scored in the final five, the total of 203 that RR ended with was ultimately more than enough.
The first drop of blood is shed by Boult.
The first over of SRH’s tall chase was filled with excitement but produced no runs; this was the moment that set the stage for their lackluster reaction. First up, Boult bowled a lovely outswinging yorker that knocked back the off-stump of left-handed Abhishek Sharma. This ended the first over. After that, Jason Holder made a spectacular diving catch at wide first slip one ball later, which prevented Rahul Tripathi from scoring his maiden run and sent him back to the field. The hitter looked again in the hopes of seeing a bump ball, but his efforts were in vain. SRH was already behind the eight ball when they lost two wickets in the first over of an impressive opening session that featured a line of 3-1-8-2. The pitch was a belter, and the outfield was moving quickly.
The agreement is finalized with spinners.
If the SRH’s Powerplay score of 30/2 wasn’t awful enough, their score in the following five overs—4 for 22—put an end to their chances of getting off to a winning start in the new season. RR brought in spin immediately after the powerplay, and Chahal struck with the final delivery of the seventh over to end Harry Brook’s shaky debut innings. Brook was out for 13 (21 balls), as Chahal took his 300th T20 wicket with the dismissal. Ashwin put an early stop to Glenn Phillips’ pyrotechnics by bowling a flighted delivery that the New Zealander smashed uppishly into the arms of extra cover. Washington Sundar was dismissed by a short ball from Jason Holder, while Glenn Phillips’ innings was cut short by Ashwin. Mayank Agarwal, who was at the opposite end of the field when the wicket parade began, quickly became a part of it when Chahal beat him in flight and had him skying one to long-off. While Adil Rashid put up a little fight, coming in at 52/6, SRH were left looking down the barrel at 81/7 after a comfortable stumping off the leggie. It wasn’t until the final delivery of his stint that he grabbed his fourth wicket, and it came in the shape of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The asking rate increased to 22 for the last six overs, which was an insurmountable obstacle for the tail. In spite of this, Umran Malik and Impact Player sub Abdul Samad engaged in a friendly competition to see who could hit the ball further. As a result, they contributed to SRH’s reply with an unbeaten stand of 36 runs in the final 13 deliveries of the game. This gave the team a semblance of respectability.
What should I do now?
Next up for Rajasthan is their first home match, which will take place against the Punjab Kings on Wednesday in Guwahati (April 5). On the other hand, SRH will be playing LSG on Friday in Lucknow, therefore their next match will be in Lucknow.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 203/5 in 20 overs beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 131/8 in 20 overs by 72 runs. Sanju Samson scored 55, Jos Buttler scored 54, and Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 54. T Natarajan took three wickets and Fazalhaq Farooqi four, and T Natarajan, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Trent Boult shared four wickets and two wickets each.
