Sunrisers Hyderabad started their 2018 IPL campaign with a convincing win over Rajasthan Royals in the 4th match played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, HyderaChasing 126, Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson showed their class winning the match by 9 wickets.bad finished a few minutes ago. Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to field first. It was a great effort by Hyderabad bowlers to restrict Rajasthan Royals to just 125. Chasing 126, Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson showed their class winning the match by 9 wickets.
Sunrisers Hyderabad new captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to field first. Rajasthan Royals got off to a bad start losing the wicket of Darcy Short in the 2nd over the virtue of a brilliant run out. Sanju Samson looked in good touch with attacking strokeplay while Rahane also played some good strokes. At the end of first 6 overs, Rajasthan Royals posted 48 for 1.
After the powerplay overs, Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers never allowed Rajasthan Royals to score runs easily and also picked wickets at regular intervals. Both Samson and Rahane added 46 runs for the 2nd wicket. After the wicket of Rahane, RR lost the momentum and scored a below par total. Rahul Tripathi made 17 while Sheryas Gopal made 18 runs. Sanju Samson was the top scorer for Rajasthan Royals with 49 runs. Siddarth Kaul and Shakib AL Hasan picked 2 wickets each while B Stanlake, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 1 wicket each.
Rashid Khan troubled the Rajasthan Royals batsmen and did not allow them to score runs with ease. RR was restricted to just 125 for 9 in 20 overs.
Chasing 126, Sunrisers Hyderabad lost an early wicket of Wriddhiman Saha for 5 runs. Shikhar Dhawan was dropped by Rahane at slips for 0. After the drop, Dhawan continued his superb form from the South African tour. At the end of 6 overs, SRH scored 57 runs for 1.
After the powerplay overs, both Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson looked in control. The stylish left-handed batsmen completed his half-century off 33 balls. Both of them added unbeaten 121 runs for the 2nd wicket and helped SRH to win by 9 wickets with 25 balls to spare.
SRH 127 for 1 in 15.5 overs ( Shikhar Dhawan 77*, Kane Williamson 36*, Unadkat 1/28) beat
RR 125 for 9 in 20 overs ( Sanju Samson 49, S Gopal 18, Shakib AL Hasan 2/23, S Kaul 2/17) by 9 wickets.
SRH captain Kane Williamson said: A nice team performance. All the bowlers played their part. We picked wickets at regular intervals. We would like to work in some areas before the next match.
RR captain Rahane said: 150 or 160 would have been a good total on this pitch as 125 was not a below par. We were 50 for 1 with Sanju Samson and me at the crease but lost too many wickets. This is our first game and would be looking to improve ourselves going into next game.
Man of the match Shikhar Dhawan said: It was a good effort by our team. I tried to stretch my good form as long as possible. This is a great start for us and would like to play aggressively in the coming matches.
The next match of IPL will be between Chennai Super Kings taking on Kolkata Knight Riders at Chepauk, Chennai tomorrow.