Sunrisers Hyderabad have made early inroads against Rajasthan Royals as they defend 158 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. An error of judgement between Steve Smith and Jos Buttler cost the former his wicket putting Rajasthan in tatters at 25 for two.
Steve Smith & Co wanted to set a statement early sending all-rounder Ben Stokes at the top alongside Jos Buttler. However, the all-rounder, who completed his quarantine yesterday couldn’t much impact as Khaleel Ahmed removed him early. The onus was now on Smith and Buttler to build a partnership to steady the ship for run-chase but an error cost Sunrisers Hyderabad their second wicket.
Steve Smith gets run out for only 5 runs
Jos Buttler pulled the shortish ball from T Natarajan through square leg and the batters decide to come back for the second, it was Buttler’s call. A slight hesitation; however, Steve Smith obliged. Vijay Shankar ran to his left from deep backward square leg, picked the ball and fired a decent throw towards the bowler.
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Natarajan took off the bails to catch and Steve Smith was well short of his crease. Even a dive couldn’t save the Rajasthan Royals skipper. Smith didn’t have to wait for the third umpire’s call as he was out by a fair margin.
Watch the video here:
https://twitter.com/likhithaSuggala/status/1315267214946168832?s=20
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Sunrisers Hyderabad kept up the pressure as Khaleel Ahmed shed fire with the new ball. The left-arm pacer removed Jos Buttler to send Rajasthan Royals’ top three packing to have Rajasthan Royals at 26 for three. Sanju Samson and Robin Uthappa, who made a return to the squad will have a task at hand to end Royals four-match losing streak.
Earlier in the day, batting didn’t seem easy from the outset, with even the new ball being tough to stroke away. David Warner dug in though but Manish Pandey struggled to get going for the major part of the innings. But once Warner departed two short of his half-century, Pandey shifted gears.
At one stage, 150 was starting to look difficult to attain but Kane Williamson and Priyam Garg ensured a superb finish to the innings. They took 35 runs off the last two overs to help Sunrisers Hyderabad post 158 runs on the board.
