Sunrisers Hyderabad end losing run against Rajasthan Royals
In arguably their worst IPL season, Sunrisers Hyderabad had something to cheer about as they beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets.
Requiring 165 runs to win, Sunrisers completed the run chase in the 19th over. Jason Roy was phenomenal on his debut as he scored a match-winning score of 60.
Samson shines again
Despite losing Evin Lewis early, the 2008 champions started off strongly. The 56-run partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson ensured that Rajasthan had the base to attack the final overs of the innings. At a score of 67, Sandeep Sharma bowled the Royals’ opener, who scored 36 runs of 23 balls.
Rajasthan’s skipper, Sanju Samson, was the star of Rajasthan’s batting innings for his 82. The 26-year old lead from the front as he stunned the Hyderabad bowling with sublime shotmaking and superb orthodox hits. Mahipal Lommor also provided great support to the Royals captain.
After the 15th over, Samson started going after his shots a lot more. He dispatched Siddharth Kaul for two sixes and a four before hitting Bhuvaneshwar Kumar for a boundary as well. The 16th and 17th overs brought 30 runs.
Thanks to his late brilliance, the Men in Pink finished with 164/5.
Jason Roy delights Hyderabad fans
Hyderabad were looking to end a poor run of results as they find themselves bottom of the IPL 2021 group. To ensure that, it was crucial that they don’t lose early wickets. They did exactly that as their openers (Jason Roy and Wriddhiman Saha) put on a 57-run partnership. Saha was stumped in the sixth over.
However, Hyderabad carried on the momentum till the halfway mark, thanks to Jason Roy. Kane Williamson was also very substantial to the run-chase as the fans anticipated a cracking end to the game.
The 11th over seemed to have taken the match away from Samson’s men when Rahul Tewatia went for 21 runs. Jason Roy was magisterial as he brought on his fifty on his Sunrisers debut. The Englishman scored 60 runs off 42 balls, before being caught behind on Sakariya’s bowling. In the next over, Priyam Garg also went back to the pavilion on the first ball that he faced.
The 2016 champions required 41 runs in their last six overs. Both Williamson and Abhishek Sharma tried to get the scoreboard ticking over so they can attack the loose balls to kill the game.
They knew that they had to score just a little bit over than a run-a-ball to get over the finishing line. Rajasthan will not be happy with the number of extras they had given away.
With 22 runs to get in three overs, the Men in Pink had already given away 15 extras. It proved costly as Sharma smashed Sakariya out of the ground to shift the match back in Hyderabad’s favor. A boundary by Williamson in the same over sealed the match for his team. The Sunrisers clinched the win in the 19th over.
