Pune: Rajasthan Royals registered a massive victory in their first game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium. A full-fledged batting domination from the Royals empowered them to a mammoth total of 210-6. The bowlers, led by Yuzvendra Chahal reduced the Sunrisers Hyderabad to 149-7.
Batting first for the Rajasthan Royals, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal opened the innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar started the game with a dramatic first over. Buttler edged one straight to the slips but Bhuvneshwar overstepped on the same delivery, giving the right-handed English batter an early opportunity. Sunrisers Hyderabad paid too much for that no-ball during the rest of the macth. The right-handed opener smacked 21 runs off Umran Malik’s bowling in the fourth with three fours and two sixes.
Youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal mugged 18 runs from Washington Sundar’s over. The Royals remained unbeaten with 58 runs till the sixth over. Markram caught Jaiswal in the deep off Romario Shephard for 20 runs. Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Sanju Samson came one down to join the party with Buttler. Abhishek Sharma digested a four and a six as the Royals’ captain kept the momentum.
Devdutt Padikkal joined Sanju Samson as the Royals reached 87-2 at the 10th over. Padikkal scored some sensational sixes and boundaries as the fifty partnership for third wicket came up. Indian pacer Umran Malik extinguished the explosive partnership with a back of the length delivery. The ball crashed into the stumps as Padikkal was dismissed.
Samson reached his fifty hitting two giant sixes against Sundar. The RR skipper was caught to Bhuvneshwar Kumarwhile attempting to clear the ropes. Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer, carried the batting domination for the Royals. Hetmyer smashed consecutive sixes to surpass the 200-run mark. The Royals ended with a huge total of 210/6 in the first innings.
Our favourite numbers, here in PINK. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/JfHzwUM3zl
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) March 29, 2022
Chasing a target of 211, SRH openers – Kane Williamson and Abhishek Sharma were welcomed with some fiery pace from Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna. Kane Williamson became the first victim off Krishna’s bowling by Devdutt Padikkal, who took a juggling catch in the slips. Krishna, the right-arm pacer scalped his second wicket in the form of Rahul Tripathi, who nicked the ball back to the keeper.
Trent Boult removed Nicholas Pooran as the left-handed batter trapped in front. The Sunrisers Hyderabad struggled with 14-3 at the end of the powerplay. Aiden Markram joined opener Abhishek Sharma in the rebuilding process. Introduced into the attack, Yuzvendra Chahal struck immediately as Sharma miscued the lofted shot, and caught by the long-on fielder. After 10 overs, Sunrisers Hyderabad were 36-4 and things went from bad to worse as Abdul Samad was caught in the deep by Hetmyer. Dismissing Samad, Chahal scalped his second wicket of the innings.
Romario Shephard joined Markram and hammered consecutive sixes. Chahal ended Shepard’s innings with a full-length delivery. The target seemed to go out of reach for the Sunrisers. Coming up next, Washington Sundar hammered 24 runs off the 17th over. The left-handed all-rounder timed the ball quite frequently to hit four fours and a six in the same over.
Markram and @Sundarwashi5 have put up 41 runs in 14 deliveries.🧡
SRH: 119/6 (18)#SRHvRR #TATAIPL #OrangeArmy #ReadyToRise
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 29, 2022
Sundar added another four and a six in the penultimate over as SRH lowered the margin of the target. The batter was caught in the deep off Boult’s bowling. This brought an end to a quick-fire innings of 40 runs off just 14 balls. With a four and a six in the final over, Markram completed his half-century. But SRH fell 62 runs short of the mark.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 210/6 (Sanju Samson 55, Devdutt Padikkal 41; Umran Malik 2-39) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 149/7 (Aiden Markram 57*, Washington Sundar 40; Yuzvendra Chahal 3-22) by 61 runs.
