Rajasthan Royals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in match 26 of IPL 2020 in Dubai. This win helps the Royals to keep their playoff hopes alive in IPL 2020. Meanwhile, this was SRH’s fourth loss of their IPL campaign. Both teams are on six points with Hyderabad just above Rajasthan in the points table. More about the RR vs SRH match report in detail below.
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bat first. David Warner (48) lost his opening partner Jonny Bairstow (16) inside the powerplay after Sanju Samson pulled out a ripper of a catch in the square leg boundary. Manish Pandey (54) then added a crucial 73- run stand before Jofra Archer accounted for Warner’s wicket finding his weakness, bowling from around the wicket in the 15th over.
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Pandey followed suit after scoring his second fifty this season as he was dismissed in the 18th over of their innings. Kane Williamson (22) and Priyam Garg (15) then added a quickfire 30 run-stand after Pandey’s dismissal to take Sunrisers Hyderabad past 150.
Sunrisers finished on 158, which at the halfway point looked par with the wicket in the second innings expected to slow down. Jofra Archer taking 1 for 25 was the best of the Rajasthan Royals’ bowlers on the night.
The Royals had the worst of starts to their chase. The Men in Pink lost their big three Ben Stokes (5), Jos Buttler (16) and Steve Smith (5) inside the powerplay. Sanju Samson (26) and Robin Uthappa (18) gave away their wickets to get their team into further trouble.
Tewatia-Parag’s Unbeaten 85-Run Stand for Rajasthan Royals
With 78 for 5 after 12 overs, in came Rahul Tewatia (45 off 28) and with Riyan Parag (42 off 26) first brought their innings back on track. With Rajasthan Royals needing 53 off the last five, the left-hander then took charge of the chase and played some brilliant shots.
From the other end, Parag ensured that he did not play a dot ball and gave as much of the strike possible to Tewatia. They finally sized up the chase in the last over of the match and gave the Royals, much-needed two points. The duo of Tewatia and Parag added an unbeaten 85-run stand which was the second-best sixth-wicket partnership in successful run chases in IPL history.
What was the Turning Point of the Match?
Tewatia and Parag’s unbeaten 85-run stand was the turning point in the match, given that Sunrisers Hyderabad had the game in their grasp till the first 12 overs of Rajasthan Royals’ chase. It was Tewatia, who was yet again the enforcer in the game and in the partnership. This is the second match that Tewatia has won with the bat for Rajasthan in this IPL season.
Rahul Tewatia for his unbeaten 45 was chosen as the Man of the Match in the game.
“This was the role given to me and it was clear from a long time. I was batting well for a while and I was confident and was hitting them well when we played practice games. So it’s easy when you know your role.
The wickets were falling so I just wanted to hold one end up and wait for the boundary balls. I knew if I keep my self-belief and take it deep, I could pull it off” said Tewatia at the post-match presentation.
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